Lobos Split Opening Day of Northern Colorado Classic
GREELEY, Colo.— The University of New Mexico finished the first day of the 2019 season with a split on the day, starting off with a straight-set defeat of Rutgers, followed by a loss to Grand Canyon in which the Lobos were ahead in the match two sets to none before falling in five.
With the win against Rutgers, UNM is now 4-1 in its last five season openers and 9-1 in its last 10.
RU-UNM BOX SCORE | UNM-GCU BOX SCORE
MATCH ONE:
The Jon Newman-Gonchar era at The University of New Mexico got off to a strong start on Friday at the Northern Colorado Classic with a dominating opening win over Rutgers in straight sets by scores of 25-17, 25-12, 25-22.
Senior Lauren Twitty led the Lobos with a match-high 17 kills and was the only player in double digits in the match. Redshirt-sophomore Jaclyn Inclan recorded a career-high 33 assists, also a match high, while freshman libero Alena Moldan posted a match-high 12 digs in her first appearance as a Lobo. Twitty also registered a match-high two service aces and finished the match with two assisted blocks.
UNM outhit Rutgers .271 to .101 in the match behind 40 kills as a team and recorded four service aces compared to just one for Rutgers.
Nicolette Clark made an impact early on in the first set of the match, recording the first kill of the season to help the Lobos get out to an early 4-2 lead, to which UNM maintained a two-point margin through the first 10 points of the set. UNM’s lead doubled to 10-5 with three kills coming from Tai Bierria, forcing a timeout for Rutgers. The break didn’t cause any pause in the Lobo momentum as UNM scored the next four points to push out to a 14-5 lead.
Rutgers went on a run at the end to make it 23-17 before a service error gave the Lobos set point. Twitty tallied the final point of the set to give UNM the 25-17 set win. The senior finished the first set with five kills, while Inclan had 13 assists.
In the second set, Rutgers went ahead 3-0 but the Lobos responded with the next four points to go ahead for good at 4-3. UNM built on the lead to three at 10-7 and stretched it to 13-8 before Rutgers took a timeout. Once again, the timeout didn’t stop the scoring as the Lobos scored the next four points to go ahead 17-8 and eventually doubled their lead to 20-10. The Cherry and Silver closed on a 5-2 run behind a Clark block and a Murphy cross court kill that gave UNM set point and the Lobos would close the set with the final point to win the second set for the 2-0 match lead. Twitty added seven kills in the set to her overall total as well as two service aces while Inclan totaled eight assists in the frame. Morgan Schreckler recorded five of her nine digs in the set.
There wasn’t much separation early in the third set as the teams traded points before UNM went on a 5-0 run to push forward 9-4. RU closed within one at 13-12 but a Bierria kill kept a UNM cushion. A Murphy and Twitty block pushed the lead to three at 17-14 and the Scarlet Knights made a late push to try to extend the match before the Lobos sealed their first win of the season with a 25-22 third set win.
MATCH TWO:
In the first set of the match, the Lobos got out to an early lead scoring the first three points, which would stretch to 6-2. The Lobos maintained their lead through the middle part of the set, building to 15-9. The lead would grow to 18-12 before GCU closed in with a run to make it 22-17. However, the Lobos would never trail in the set as they would end up winning 25-20. Scoring for the Lobos was balanced in the first set with Twitty, Murphy and Bierria each having three kills. Inclan contributed 10 assists and Moldan battled for nine digs. Aiding in UNM’s first set victory was six service errors by GCU.
In the second set, there were a total of 13 tie scores and seven lead changes. GCU went up 7-4 but the Lobos fought back to with in one at 9-8 and again at 14-13 before ultimately tying it at 14 on a Yasmin Tan kill. The Lobos managed to take the lead at 16-15 on a Bierria kill. Down the stretch, there was a tie at 22 before UNM pulled ahead on back-to-back Tan kills before forcing set point. GCU fought off set point at 24-23 and proceeded to take a 25-24 lead. Freshman Kaitlynn Biassou tallied a kill to tie the set at 25 and a Twitty ace put UNM ahead 26-25. After a tie at 26, Biassou once again came through with the kill to force another set point, which the Lobos would capitalize on with a kill by Murphy to win the set 28-26 for the two-set lead.
The third set was another back-and-forth frame with 16 ties and nine lead changes with GCU pulling out the slim 25-23 win to extend the match. An Inclan ace tied the set at eight and a Biassou kill later tied the set at 13 before UNM took a 16-15 lead on an Inclan and Murphy block. UNM was able to extend its lead to two on a Twitty kill, but a GCU run of 6-3 gave the Lopes the 21-20 late lead. Back-to-back kills by Bierria and Biassou, respectively, regained the 22-21 lead for the Lobos, however, GCU made another run to force set point at 24-22. A Biassou kill fought off set point but GCU managed to get the final point to win the set 25-23.
GCU maintained momentum in the fourth set, pulling ahead 11-8 after a close set early on. The Lopes limited the Lobo opportunities in the set to force a fifth set with a 25-14 win in which UNM had only nine kills and hit just .114.
In the deciding fifth set, UNM scored the first point on a double touch and a Biassou kill gave UNM a 3-2 lead, but from there the Lopes took control with GCU up 8-5 as the teams switched sides. UNM fought back to get within one at 12-11 before GCU closed on a 3-1 run to take the set and the match.
Inclan finished with a career-high 42 assists, with Bierria and Twitty accounting for double-digit kills at 15 and 16, respectively, and Moldan recording 27 digs. Bierria and Inclan both finished with double-doubles in the match with Inclan adding 16 digs to her 42 assists and Bierria with 14 digs to go with her 15 kills. Murphy finished with a career-high eight kills and five total blocks, all assisted.
The Lobos (1-1) close out the Northern Colorado Classic with a match against host Northern Colorado (1-0) on Saturday at noon.