ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.– The non-conference schedule and road trips continue for The University of New Mexico volleyball team as the Lobos head to the Pacific Northwest for the Redhawk Invitational hosted by Seattle University.
Starting on Friday morning at 11 a.m. MT, the Lobos will face Gonzaga, Oregon State and Seattle in a three-match tournament over a two-day period. Friday afternoon at 3 p.m. MT, UNM will play Oregon State and on Saturday at noon MT the Lobos will close against Seattle. Saturday’s contest will be streamed on the WAC Digital Network.
UNM enters the tournament with a 2-4 record after going 1-2 last weekend at the Borderland Invitational in Las Cruces. The Lobos will face a tough field in Gonzaga (5-1), Oregon State (3-2) and Seattle (5-2).
GAME NOTES | LIVE STATS (GONZAGA) | LIVE STATS (OREGON STATE) | LIVE STATS (SEATTLE) | LIVE STREAM (SEATTLE)
NEWS AND NOTES
NEW MEXICO CONTINUES ROAD MATCHES IN SEATTLE
New Mexico volleyball continues its schedule of road non-conference tournaments with three matches against Gonzaga, Oregon State and Seattle. Of note, the Lobos have winning records versus all three teams, although it will be just the second time that UNM and Seattle U will meet.
REWIND THE TAPE
The Lobos went 1-2 on the weekend with all three matches going three sets. UNM dropped its first match of the Borderland Invitational against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 25-18, 25-18, 25-19. Lauren Twitty contributed a double-double with 13 kills and 10 digs. On Saturday, the Lobos opened up the day with a sweep of Pacific (25-21, 25-20, 25-16) behind 14.0 total team blocks, the second-most on the season. Rachel Murphy led the way at the net with seven assisted blocks, tying her career high in total blocks and setting a career high in assisted blocks. In the final match of the weekend against NMSU, the Lobos fell in three (25-15, 25-17, 25-14). Twitty led the Lobos with 26 kills on the weekend with Maddie Freiwald contributing a team-high 43 assists and three service aces. Rachel Murphy led with 11 total blocks and Alena Moldan had a team-high 24 digs.
NEW START IN NEW MEXICO
First-year head coach Jon Newman-Gonchar picked up his first win as a head coach on Aug. 30 in a three-set win over Rutgers (25-17, 25-12, 25-22).
Joining him on the bench are assistant coaches Jesse Tupac and April Sanchez with Ariel Sanchez serving as director of volleyball operations who are all in their first year at UNM.
MILESTONE WATCH
Lauren Twitty is just 14 kills away from reaching the 1,000 mark for her career. Twitty tallied 50 kills in the opening weekend and 26 kills at the Borderland Invitational.
SERVING FOUR
The Lobos have tallied four service aces in all but one match this season, the last match against NMSU.
Twitty leads the Lobos with seven aces and has twice recorded two aces in a match. Seven different Lobos have tallied a service ace this season, and of those six have multiple aces on the season.
STEPPING IN TO THE FIRE
Freshman Kaitlynn Biassou started her first collegiate match against UNC and had an immediate impact for the Lobos. The outside hitter played in all five sets and had 15 kills in the match, the second-highest total for UNM in the match. At the net, Biassou assisted on four blocks and recorded a solo block for a total of 18.0 in the match. The Nevada native is third on the team in kills this season with 35 and tied for second in blocks at 15.0.
Fellow freshman Alena Moldan started all six matches at the libero position and played in all but one set, recording double-digit digs in four matches. She had a match-high 27 digs against GCU, a match-high 12 against Rutgers and had 17 against Northern Colorado. She currently leads the team with 80 digs.
INCLAN CAN DO IT ALL
Inclan, a redshirt-sophomore setter, is averaging 6.57 assists a set after tallying 138 this season. She also contributed with seven kills, 57 digs (second most on the team), five total blocks (one solo) and two service aces.
The Arizona native 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
Six matches in to the season, the Lobos have already played two, five-set matches, continuing a trend from 2018.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, however the Lobos have not recorded a four-set deicision to date.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
GONZAGA
Gonzaga enters the tournament with wins against Connecticut, Ball State, Montana and Air Force in three sets and Navy in four. GU’s lone loss on the season came against Grand Canyon in four sets. Sarah Penner leads the team with 74 kills (3.70 k/s), 15 service aces, 11.0 blocks (seven solo) and 98.0 points (4.90 pts/s). Leading the Bulldogs in assists is Jenna Kuehn at 173, an average of 8.65 per set, and accounts for 173 of the team’s 231 assists (75 percent). Alisa Kim has tallied a team-high 72 digs (3.60 d/s).The Bulldogs were picked to finish eighth in the West Coast Conference preseason poll while Penner was selected to the preseason All-WCC Preseason Team.
Gonzaga is 3-0 in neutral matches this season and have won their last two matches.
SERIES vs. GONZAGA
New Mexico and Gonzaga have faced each other four times previously with UNM holding the 3-1 advantage. It will be the first time in over 10 years that the two teams will meet with the last time occurring Sept. 8, 2007.Historically, UNM is 1-0 in three sets, 1-0 in four sets and 1-1 in five sets. The Lobos are 3-0 in neutral matches.
OREGON STATE
Oregon State won against UC Irvine and Boston College in three sets and Yale in four and lost against Oklahoma in five and Indiana in three. The Beavers are 3-1 in neutral matches. Maddie Goings leads the team in kills (72, 4.0 kills per set) and is second in digs with 45 (2.5 d/s). Grace Massey holds the team high in digs with 89 (4.94 d/s). Makenna Browne leads in service aces with four. Maddie Sheehan has accounted for 154 of the team’s 248 assists (62 percent) for an average of 8.56 assists per set. Kory Cheshire leads with 18 total blocks, three solo and 15 assisted. The Beavers were picked to finish last in the Pac-12 Coaches’ Poll but return 11 letterwinners, including six starters, from last season.
SERIES vs. OREGON STATE
UNM is 4-1 against OSU, 3-0 in neutral matches. The Lobos are 0-1 in three-set matches, 2-0 in four sets and 1-0 in five sets. Friday’s match will be the first time in over 20 years that the two teams have met, with the last time occurring on Sept. 5, 1998.
SEATTLE
Seattle has wins against Southern Miss, San Francisco and New Hampshire in four sets and Holy Cross in five. SU lost to Denver in three and Brown in five. Eve Kerschenbaum leads the Redhawks in kills with 96 (4.17 k/s) and is second in digs (54, 2.35 d/s) and service aces (seven). Ezgi Ozkan has recorded 240 of the team’s 291 assists (82 percent), an average of 9.60 a/s. Defensively,Tijana Milojevic holds a team-high 91 digs (3.64 d/s) and Julia Quieroz has registered a team-high 27 total blocks (two solo). The Redhawks were picked eighth in the WAC.
Last season, Seattle went 5-7 at home. Following a 3-0 win over Eastern Washington on Tuesday evening, the Redhawks are 1-0 at home and have won their last two matches.
SERIES vs. SEATTLE
The Lobos have played the Redhawks just once previously, a three-set win for UNM on Aug. 29, 2014.
PRIDE PASS
The Lobos open their home schedule on Saturday, Sept. 28 at 1 p.m. at Dreamstyle Arena – The Pit. 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.