UNM Falls to Ohio in Three Following Back-and-Forth Match
DENTON, Texas— The University of New Mexico volleyball team opened up the North Texas Challenge with a thrilling, hard-fought match against Ohio University on Thursday night which had a total of 31 ties and 10 lead changes.
However, the Lobos were on the wrong side of the outcome as they fell 26-24, 25-23, 25-22 to the Bobcats (6-4).
Senior Lauren Twitty led UNM with nine kills in the match while Nicolette Clark recorded a career-high eight kills and hit a career-best .316 (8-2-19). Setter Maddie Freiwald posted a season-best three service aces, single-handedly matching the team total tallied by Ohio, and was credited with a team-high 16 assists. Freshman libero Alena Moldan recorded a match-high 14 digs, the eighth time this season that Moldan has surpassed double digits in the category. Twitty led in blocking with one solo and two assisted, the sixth time this season that Twitty has recorded a solo block, as the Lobos finished with six total team blocks.
The opening set gave the first indications that the Lobos and Bobcats would be in for a back-and-forth fight as the match went on, as there wasn’t much separation between the two teams throughout and a total of 20 ties and six lead changes.
After an ace by Tai Bierria tied the set at two after OU scored the first two points, it was back-and-forth with an exchange of points throughout much of the next 24 points of the set. Clark’s fourth kill of the set gave UNM a 15-14 lead but there was another tie at 15 and again at 16. A service error by the Bobcats tied the set at 17 before Ohio scored the next two points to pull ahead by two.
However, out of a Lobo timeout, a Bobcat service error and a Bierria kill tied the set back up at 19. There was another tie at 20 before the Bobcats went back up 23-20. The Lobos responded with a Clark and Yasmin Tan block, received a point on an OU attack error, and a Bierria kill to tie the set which was the 19th tie of the set. An attack error by OU gave UNM set point at 24-23 but OU tied it up for the final time and took the next two points for the 26-24 set win.
Clark hit .571 in the set with four kills, while Bierria and Twitty each had a service ace. Freiwald aided with seven assists and Tan assisted on two blocks.
In the second set, UNM scored the first three points in the set but the Bobcats went on a 5-0 run to take a 5-3 lead. A Tan kill brought UNM within one at 7-6 and back-to-back kills by Rachel Murphy later tied the set at nine. OU took the next two points to pull back ahead by two, although much like how the match developed in the first set, the Lobos responded to tie the set at 11 with two more ties at 12 and 13 before back-to-back aces by Freiwald gave UNM a 15-13 lead.
The Lobos managed to create separation and pulled ahead by five at 19-14 following a 4-0 run that included kills by Clark (two) and Bierria, however, Ohio tied the set at 21 following a 3-0 run. A Murphy kill restored the lead for the Lobos but the Bobcats tied the set on the next point. There were two final ties at 22 and 23 with OU scoring the last three points of the set to win 25-23. After UNM went ahead 21-18, OU closed on a 7-2 run to take the set.
There were a total of eight ties and three lead changes in the second set, three of the ties coming in the final seven points.
The third and final set was defined by 3-0 runs by both teams.
As was the case in the second set, UNM scored the first three points of the third set following an OU attack error, a Bierria kill and a Jaclyn Inclan ace. The lead further expanded to five at 9-4 on a Twitty kill following a 3-0 UNM run. Ohio answered with a 3-0 run of its own to close within two but an attack error by the Bobcats kept the lead from shrinking any further. Ohio eventually tied the set at 12 after another 3-0 run but a bad set by OU regained the lead for the Lobos. However, another 3-0 run gave the Bobcats a 15-13 advantage. A Freiwald ace allowed UNM to later tie the set at 16 but the Bobcats scored the next two points to gain the advantage back for good. The Lobos fell behind by four at 22-18 on another 3-0 run by Ohio and faced match point at 24-20 to which the Lobos fought it off twice before the Bobcats scored the final point for the 25-22 win to secure the match. There were just three ties and one lead change in the final set.
UNM (3-7) returns to action on Friday night at 5 p.m. MT against host North Texas.