GREELEY, Colo.— For the second-straight match, The University of New Mexico volleyball team was on the losing end of a five-set match, however this time it was the Lobos who fought back to force the fifth set.
In an exciting match that ultimately saw 31 ties and nine lead changes, the Lobos forced a fifth set after falling behind two sets by narrow scores of 25-23 and 25-22. UNM extended the match with a strong 32-30 third set and pulled out a 25-21 fourth set win to force the fifth. However, the Northern Colorado Bears emerged with the set and the match by a score of 15-4.
UNM finished with three attackers in double-digit kills, led by senior outside hitter Lauren Twitty who had a match-high 17. Freshman Kaitlynn Biassou finished with the second-highest at 15 followed by senior Tai Bierria’s 14. Twitty contributed 15 digs on the afternoon for her first double-double of the weekend.
Setter Jaclyn Inclan joined Twitty with her second double-double in as many days, leading the Lobos with 39 assists and 20 digs, a match high in digs.
The Lobos were strong defensively at the net with a team total 17.0 blocks, nine of which were solo. Twitty led with three solo blocks to go with two assisted blocks, while Inclan had two solo and four Lobos had one (Yasmin Tan, Biassou, Bierria and Rachel Murphy). Murphy had six assisted blocks and Biassou had four. Twitty, Inclan and Twitty all had two assisted blocks. UNM out-blocked UNC 17.0 to 4.0 in the match.
In the opening set, the Lobos were able to tie the set early at three after falling behind 3-1. There was another tie at four before the Bears scored the next five points to go up 9-4. A Tan kill ended the run but UNC tallied the next two points to go back up 11-5. Back-to-back Lobo points cut into the deficit, but UNM struggled to get closer than four until a Biassou kill made it 14-11 UNC. However, Northern Colorado extended its lead to seven before a net violation ended the streak. UNM cut the lead down to four at 21-17 following an Inclan ace and again at 22-18 on a Twitty kill. The run continued for UNM with a Murphy and Biassou block and a bad set that cut the margin to two at 22-20 on what would be a 5-0 run.
A 2-1 run by UNM on a kill by Biassou and an attack error made it a 23-22 UNC lead but the Bears were able to get to set point on a kill of their own. Biassou kept the set alive on a kill, her fourth of the set, but the Bears were able to close the set to take the 25-23 opening set win.
The Lobos outhit the Bears .333 to .262 behind balanced scoring from Biassou, Twitty and Bierria who each had four kills. Inclan started off the match with 14 assists in the opening set and added a service ace. Biassou and Murphy combined for the lone block of the set for UNM.
In the second set, UNM built a lead but were unable to withstand a Bear rally en route to the 25-22 defeat.
Blocks were prevalent early on in the set as a Twitty and Tan block and a Biassou solo block allowed UNM to get out to an early 3-2 lead. A Biassou kill regained the lead for UNM at 4-3. Another block, this time by Bierria allowed UNM to push out to a 5-3 lead which stretched to 6-3 on an attack error by UNC. The Bears managed to tie the set at six before back-to-back kills by Bierria restored the lead to UNM.
The Lobo lead would alternate between two and three before a 5-0 run led by an ace by Moldan, an Inclan block, a Twitty kill and another Moldan ace expanded it to seven at 16-9. Following a timeout by UNC, the Bears went on a run to close the lead to one at 17-16, leading to a UNM timeout. The set was tied at 17 before a Twitty kill ended the Bear comeback. There was a tie at 18 at which point UNC scored the next three points to go up 21-18. A Biassou kill and an attack error brought it back within one, however UNC got the points right back to push the UNM deficit to three. A service error by UNC extended the set but a Bear kill ended the set at 25-22.
Biassou added another four kills in the set to pace the Lobos and Moldan led with two aces in a set that had six ties and two lead changes.
In what was perhaps the most bizarre volleyball set of the weekend, the teams had eight ties and three lead changes and a reversal late in the set that gave UNM new life in the third set.
The Bears scored the first four points of the set before a service error put UNM on the board. The deficit grew to five at 6-1, but back-to-back solo blocks by Tan and Twitty made it a 6-4 game. A Tan kill reduced the margin to one at 7-6, although UNC stretched the lead back to three at 9-6. Tan responded with another kill and after the Bears’ lead grew to 12-8, the Lobos fought back within one at 12-11 with a Bierria kill, a block by Tan and Inclan and an attack error by UNC.
Like the last time, the Bears answered with a run of their own to push the lead back to five at 16-11. A Twitty ace, a Bierria tip and a net violation brought the lead back down to three at 19-16. From there, a Twitty kill, a Biassou and Murphy block and an attack error tied the set at 20, the first tie of the set and a Bierria kill gave UNM the lead at 21-20.
UNC eventually tied the set at 24 after UNM had set point at 24-22 and from there it was a fight to score the next two points to win the set for both teams.
A Twitty kill gave UNM set point again but UNC tied the game. UNM scored the next point on a Twitty kill to force another Lobo set point but once again the Bears tied the set at 26. The Bears would take the next point on a kill for a match point situation, but the Lobos responded with kills from Twitty and Bierria to give UNM the 28-27 advantage. A service error tied the set once more before Biassou regained the lead for UNM on a kill. A Northern Colorado kill tied the set once more at 29 and an ace by the Bears gave the home team match point.
After UNC thought they won the set 31-29 and therefore the match, it was discovered that the Bears were serving out of rotation and the score rolled back to UNM being ahead 30-29. There was another tie at 30 and an attack error by UNC gave UNM back set point at 31-30, which the Lobos were able to capitalize on the next point on a Twitty kill for the 32-30 set win to extend the match.
Much like the previous set, the Bears pulled ahead early but it was the Lobos who found their stride late to pull out the fourth set win.
UNC scored the first three points before two errors by UNC and kill by Twitty brought the Lobos back in the set. The Lobos used a four-point rally to take the lead on a Biassou kill and would add to it to go ahead 5-3. The Bears tied the set at five before Biassou put the Lobos back in front. A Bierria kill gave UNM a 7-6 lead but two-straight points by UNC gave the Bears an 8-7 lead, the third lead change in the set. An attack error created another tie at eight and there was a tie at nine before UNC scored the next two points to create a little separation.
The Lobos received a block from Murphy and Inclan and a Twitty kill to tie the set at 12 and service errors by UNC continued to keep the Lobos in it as they tied the set again at 13, 14 and 15. An attack error by UNC gave UNM a 16-15 lead and an Inclan solo block pushed the lead to two at 17-15.
However, there would be a trade of two-point rallies as the set became tied at 17. Bierria put it just in the back corner of the court to regain a 18-17 lead for the Lobos and a Twitty kill pushed it back out to two at 19-17. A Twitty solo block made it 20-17 and the lead would expand to 22-17 on a 5-0 run. The Bears answered to make it 23-20 before a Bierria kill gave UNM set point. UNC fought it off before UNM forced a fifth set with a kill.
In the fourth set alone, there was a total of 11 ties and three lead changes. UNM posted a match high hitting percentage of .323 with Twitty accounting for five kills.
After fighting back in the match, the Bears used a 9-0 run to run away with the set after Biassou tied the set at three. A block by Biassou ended the 9-0 run but the Bears would take the set 15-4 and the match.
UNM (1-2) travels to Las Cruces and New Mexico State next weekend to face Texas A&M- Corpus Christi, Pacific and NMSU in the Borderland Tournament.