ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Following a successful exhibition against UTEP on Aug. 24 at Dreamstyle Arena – The Pit, The University of New Mexico volleyball team begins its 2019 schedule with a three-match tournament hosted by Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colo. beginning on Friday, Aug. 30.
On Friday the Lobos will go up against Rutgers University in the morning match set to begin at 10:30 a.m. MT. UNM will return to the court that afternoon to play Grand Canyon at 4:30 p.m. MT. The final match of the weekend will occur on Saturday at noon against host Northern Colorado.
NEWS AND NOTES
NEW MEXICO OPENS 2019 SCHEDULE WITH NORTHERN COLORADO CLASSIC
New Mexico volleyball plays its first matches of the year this week in Greeley, Colo., for the first of four non-conference tournaments. UNM is 4-1 in its last five season openers, 9-1 in its last 10 openers and 15-5 in its last 20 openers.Last season, the Lobos lost to Grand Canyon in five in the season opener (25-17, 15-25, 22-25, 25-11, 13-15).
NEW START IN NEW MEXICO
The Lobos will have a new leader at the helm in first-year head coach Jon Newman-Gonchar. Joining him on the bench will be assistant coaches Jesse Tupac and April Sanchez with Ariel Sanchez serving as director of volleyball operations.
LEARNING CURVE
Not only will the Lobos debut an entire new coaching staff, taking the court for the first time this season in Cherry and Silver will be seven newcomers, six of which are freshmen.
Two newcomers will play the outside hitter position (Kaitlynn Biassou and Uxue Guereca), two will cover the libero role (Alena Moldan and Chloe Clark) and there will be one setter (Maddie Freiwald), one middle blocker (Fanny Skogsfors) and one player who can play either middle blocker or outside hitter (Yamelis Mojica).
Freiwald is a graduate transfer from Butler University, where she played a total of 128 sets in 61 matches, recording 582 assists, 10 service aces, 46 kills,108 digs and 55 total blocks.
INTERNATIONALLY KNOWN
Of the newcomers, three have international experience playing for their countries. Guereca competed for the Mexican National Team since she was 15 years old. Mojica, from Puerto Rico, was a member of the national team that competed with the U18 and U20 teams. Skogsfors joins the Lobos from Sweden, where she competed on the U18 Swedish National Team, the U20 Swedish National Team and the Senior Swedish National Team. With the addition of the three, the Lobos now have four international players (Yasmin Tan, Australia). Tan played with the Australian Junior Women’s Team.
TWITTY TIME
Lauren Twitty is the top Lobo returner from 2018 after leading UNM in kills (407) with 3.86 kills per set and 23 service aces. Twitty accounted for 469.5 points, an average of 3.88 points per set, which was 26 percent of the team’s total points on the season. Twitty was also second in digs (291), averaging 2.40 a set and third in total blocks with 68 (11 solo).
The outside hitter’s sophomore and junior campaigns were similar in numbers, with the Virginia native leading the team in kills, kills per set, points and points per set in both years.
Twitty recorded double-digit kills in 21 matches and 20-plus kills in four while recording a team-high 13 double-doubles on the year. She was named to the Mountain West All-Conference team in 2017 and 2018.In her career, Twitty has 910 kills, 50 service aces, 636 digs, 147 total blocks and 1,044.5 points. Twitty enters the season having been named to the MW Preseason Team.
INSTANT CONTRIBUTOR
After transferring from Memphis, outside hitter Tai Bierria made an immediate impact for the Lobos in 2018, finishing with the second-highest kill total as well as point total on the team behind Twitty.
Bierria had 359 kills and 377.0 points, appearing in 120 sets, starting in 24 of the 30 matches, and registered double-digit kills in 22 matches.
REPLACING KEY PIECES
Twitty and Bierria are the only two returning starters from a season ago as UNM lost starters to graduation in leading blockers Victoria Spragg and Mariessa Carrasco as well as libero Mercedes Pacheco and outside hitter Carly Beddingfield.
Starting setter Sabrina Bianco transferred to Memphis, leaving UNM with one returning setter in Jaclyn Inclan and a newcomer in Maddie Freiwald, a graduate transfer from Butler.
INCLAN CAN DO IT ALL
Inclan, a redshirt-sophomore setter, filled the stat sheet in 2018, making her mark across the board for the Lobos.
Serving as a setter, Inclan was second on the team in assists with 520, third in service aces at 16 as well as tallied 18 kills, 150 digs and 14 assisted blocks.
The Arizona native contributed 41 points to the team’s season total and played in 119 sets over 30 matches, starting in six.
LONG TIME GONE
The Lobos will spend their first four weekends of the 2019 season on the road in non-conference tournaments before opening at home on Saturday, Sept. 28 against Wyoming.
UNM will travel to Greeley, Colo., Las Cruces, Seattle, Wash., and Denton, Texas for its four tournaments, a total distance of 2779.61 miles (5559.22 roundtrip).
GOING THE DISTANCE
In 2018, the Lobos played a total of 12 five-set matches, the most five-set matches in a single season in program history, surpassing the precedent of 10 set in 2012.
Among those five-set matches, the Lobos staged a comeback against North Florida to force a fifth set and ended the season with a victory over MW champion Colorado State.
UNM had its most success in four-set matches, winning six of eight.
FROM COAST TO COAST
The Lobos represent 11 states spanning from all regions of the country as well as spanning across the globe in Mexico, Puerto Rico, Australia and Sweden.
Arizona has the largest representation with four in Nicolette Clark, Inclan, Danica Rowan and Morgan Schreckler.
LOBOS PICKED SEVENTH IN MW PRESEASON COACHES’ POLL
The Lobos were selected to finish seventh in the Mountain West this season, as voted by the league’s 11 coaches in the MW Preseason Coaches’ Poll released August 14.
Colorado State collected 10 first-place votes for 100 points, while Wyoming received the other first-place vote and 91 points.New Mexico received 50 points, six points behind Fresno State and nine points ahead of San Diego State.
PRIDE PASS
Fans can purchase Lobo Pride Passes for access to all home matches this season for $50 by clicking HERE. Other ways are directly through the Lobo Ticket Office in person or on the phone (925-LOBO). The Lobo Ticket Office is located in Dreamstyle Arena and is open 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.