Lobos Close Regular Season with Victory over Rams
FORT COLLINS, Colo.— The University of New Mexico volleyball team did something on Saturday night that hadn’t been done in 24 years, before any of the current members were even born.
The Lobos defeated the Colorado State Rams in a road win for the first time since Oct. 7, 1994, and in doing so snapped not only the Rams’ then-12-match win streak, which started on Oct. 5 versus Air Force, but also their 12-match win streak in the series dating back to Nov. 23, 2012.
The Rams’ loss was just their third in conference play and at Moby Arena this year, and CSU entered the match having clinched its 15th Mountain West title on Thursday. It was also significant in that it broke Colorado State’s 45-match Mountain West home win streak that dated back to the 2013 season. Historically, UNM has won in Fort Collins just nine times in the series history, and just the 24th time overall in 80 meetings.
UNM secured the first two sets by identical scores of 25-22, before CSU won the next two sets (25-22 and 25-17) to force a fifth set. The Lobos fought off match point at 14-13 with a kill by Tai Bierria before back-to-back Ram attack errors gave the Cherry and Silver the 16-14 set win and the five-set victory. Coincidentally, when the Lobos won in 1994, the match also went five.
Bierria finished with a team-high 20 kills, tying her season best, while Nicolette Clark recorded a career-high seven kills and Danica Rowan tied her career high in kills with four.
Sabrina Bianco and Jaclyn Inclan each reached double digits in assists, with 22 and 18, respectively, and two more Lobos contributed double-digit digs with Mercedes Pacheco tallying a team-high 17 followed by 12 from Lauren Twitty.
At the net, Mariessa Carrasco tied her career high in solo blocks in the regular-season finale with two, and had five assisted blocks to lead the team. The redshirt-senior middle blocker also led in hitting percentage with a .375 clip on six kills and zero errors on 16 attempts.
The Lobos recorded six service aces in the match, with Inclan tying her season high of three, while Twitty collected two and Carrasco added one.
Colorado State held the statistical edge in kills (64-48), assists (60-45), digs (63-54), hitting percentage (.185-.107), service aces (7-6) and in total team blocks (15-12), but the Rams also recorded 10 more service errors in the match, 16-6.
There were seven ties and one lead change, at 2-1 on a Twitty service ace, as the Lobos took the opening set by a score of 25-22. Inclan’s first service ace of the match pushed UNM to a three-point lead at 6-3, which increased to four at 9-5 on a Carrasco and Rowan block. The Rams proceeded to score six of the next eight points to tie the set at 11, and there would be an exchange of points to create another tie at 12. A Bierria kill allowed UNM to regain the lead and consecutive attack errors by CSU expanded the lead to 15-12. Following two more ties at 16 and 17, the Lobos used a 3-0 run to take a 20-17 lead on two more errors by the Rams and a Twitty and Carrasco block. The Rams were able to cut the margin to one at 20-19, however, the Lobos won the next four points to earn set point at 24-19. During that stretch, Colorado State had two errors and Twitty collected her second ace of the set followed by a Clark kill. CSU fought it off three times on kills by Breana Runnels before Bierria closed the set with a kill for the 25-22 win.
Colorado State won the first four points of the second set before Carrasco and Bierria led New Mexico with a 4-0 run of its own to tie the set. In the run, Carrasco was responsible for a solo block, an assisted block with Clark, and Bierria had two-straight kills. The Rams built back up a three-point advantage at 7-4 and 8-5, but like earlier, the Lobos responded with a run to tie the set at eight. CSU led for the next 19 points, with UNM pulling within one on seven different occasions, before there was another tie at 18 after an Inclan kill. An attack error by CSU gave UNM its first lead of the set, which grew to two at 20-18 on another Ram attack error. The home team managed to tie the set at 20, but the Lobos took the next two points on kills by Victoria Spragg and Twitty which pushed the lead back to two. The Rams closed within one at 23-22 before a Twitty kill and Ram attack error sealed the second set, 25-22. The Rams finished the set with nine attack errors as the Lobos outhit the Rams .267 to .100.
In the third set, it was the Lobos who got out ahead early with the first two points. However, CSU tied the set at two and there would be eight more ties with the teams exchanging points up to 10-all. UNM ended the trend with three-straight points from kills by Clark and Bierria in addition to a Ram attack error. A 4-0 run created a six-point cushion at 17-11, which would hold until a Twitty kill made it 20-15. From there, CSU closed on a 10-2 run to take the set, 25-22. Both teams struggled to hit in the set, with CSU edging out UNM .105 to .093 in the set, but the Rams were able to record three service aces and a 3-2 advantage in blocks to keep the match alive. There were a total of 10 ties and three lead changes in the third frame.
UNM gained the 4-2 early lead in the fourth set before CSU answered to tie the set at four. There was then an exchange of 2-0 runs to create another tie at six, and after another tie at seven, CSU pulled ahead 10-7. A Twitty kill cut the deficit to one at 10-9, but CSU took the next two points to regain its three-point lead. A late 6-0 run turned a 17-14 Ram lead into 22-14 and the Lobos were unable to mount a comeback. The Lobos received two more kills from Bierria and an Inclan ace, but the Rams forced a fifth set with a 25-17 set win.
Lately, fifth sets have not been favorable for the Lobos, but in the last set of the regular season, UNM found a way to claim the win. There was little separation in the first six points with three ties, but the Lobos were the first to pull away with two-straight points on a Clark kill and a Carrasco ace. CSU tied the set at five and there were an exchange of points to create ties at six, seven, eight, nine and 10. Colorado State took a late 12-10 lead, however, the Lobos fought back to tie the set on a CSU attack error and Carrasco solo block. The Rams answered, winning the next two points and forced match point at 14-13. Bierria kept the visitors alive with her final kill of the match, and two attack errors by Colorado State secured the win for UNM. Clark led the Lobos with three kills in the final set, hitting .600.
The Lobos close the regular season with a record of 15-15 and 9-9 in the Mountain West.