ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.– The University of New Mexico volleyball team begins Mountain West play this week, and the Lobos will be tested from the first match. The Lobos open up conference play against the top-two teams in the preseason poll, starting with defending MW champion Colorado State on Thursday night, before officially holding their first home match on Saturday afternoon against Wyoming.
GAME NOTES | LIVE STATS (CSU) | LIVE STREAM (CSU) | LIVE STATS (UW) | LIVE STREAM (UW)
NEW MEXICO GOES 2-1 AT NORTH TEXAS CHALLENGE
New Mexico volleyball finished its non-conference schedule on a two-match win streak following a 2-1 weekend in Denton. The Lobos opened up the tournament with a three-set loss to Ohio (24-26,23-25,22-25) before getting back in the win column with a five-set win over host North Texas (13-25, 25-20, 24-26, 27-25, 15-13) in which the Lobos were down 23-21 late in the fourth set before responding with the win. UNM closed its weekend with a win over Kansas State in four sets (30-28, 17-25, 25-17, 25-23), the first match this season that has finished in four.
Lauren Twitty recorded two double-doubles on the weekend (against UNT and KSU) and Maddie Freiwald (UNT), Jaclyn Inclan (KSU) and Tai Bierria (KSU) each recorded one.
Rachel Murphy registered a career-high three solo blocks against Kansas State and finished the weekend with four solo and six assisted blocks. Yasmin Tan also finished with 10 total blocks in the tournament with one solo and nine assisted. Bierria tallied a career-high four service aces against KSU and finished the weekend with six. Freiwald led the Lobos with seven through the three matches, recording three each versus Ohio and North Texas. Alena Moldan led UNM in digs with 50, averaging 4.17 digs per set and Twitty had a team-high 40 kills (3.33 k/s).
Bierria and Murphy were both named to the North Texas Challenge All-Tournament Team.
MILESTONE ALERT
After already reaching one milestone this season, senior outside hitter Lauren Twitty is nearing in on 100 matches played at UNM. The senior co-captain is expected to reach her 100th match played at UNM on Oct. 3 at Fresno State.
Earlier this season, in the third set against OSU, Twitty became the 14th Lobo all-time to reach 1000 kills in a career. It took Twitty 94 matches and 314 sets to accomplish the feat.
SERVING UP A PERFECT 10
The Lobos served up 10 aces twice over the weekend, setting season highs in the category. UNM first reached the mark against North Texas on Friday night with five Lobos getting in the column. Freiwald and Inclan led with three aces each with Twitty accounting for two and Murphy and Bierria each having one. In Saturday’s match against Kansas State, Bierria had a career-high four with Freiwald, Twitty and Moldan each tallying two. Twitty has recorded two service aces in eight matches this season and at least one in 10, including one in the last six-straight matches.
UNM has four players with 10 or more aces led by Twitty with 18. Bierria and Freiwald each have 12 and Inclan has 10. Nine Lobos have at least one ace and seven have multiple.
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 97 and blocks at 27.0. Since then she has started every match and has had double figures in three matches. She broke out in the match against Oregon State with 23 kills, the first Lobo to reach 20 kills on the season and the most since Lauren Twitty had 25 in 2017.
Fellow freshman Alena Moldan has started all 12 matches at the libero position and played in every set, recording double-digit digs in 10 matches. She had a match-high 27 digs against GCU, a match-high 12 against Rutgers and produced 27 more digs against OSU to tie her season high. She currently leads the team with 186 digs, an average of 4.13 digs per set.
GOING THE DISTANCE
Twelve matches in to the season, the Lobos have already played four, 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, this season the Lobos have played just one four-set match, playing seven, three-set matches and four, five-set matches.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
COLORADO STATE
Colorado State enters as the MW preseason favorites, ranked 17th in the AVCA Coaches Poll and has won its last nine matches.
The Rams have had two common opponents with the Lobos in the non-conference season in Northern Colorado and Oregon State. The Rams defeated UNC in three sets (25-20, 25-14, 25-15) and OSU in four (25-16, 25-17, 24-26, 25-22).Their last loss came against Cal on Aug. 31 in four sets.
Breana Runnels leads the team with 134 kills, an average of 3.62 k/s and with 158.0 points (4.27 pts/s). Katie Oleksak has accounte for 352 of the team’s 434 assists (81 percent) and is averaging 10.06 a/s. From the service line, Alyssa Bert leads with 14 aces. Defensively, Alexa Roumeliotis has a team-high 141 digs (3.81 d/s) and Paulina Hougaard-Jensen has had a total of 52.0 blocks (four solo). Kirstie Hillyer has recorded 10 solo blocks.
CSU is 6-1 at home this season, 8-0 in three sets, 1-1 in four sets and 1-0 in five sets.
SERIES vs. CSU
New Mexico and Colorado State have met 80 times previously with CSU leading the series 56-24. UNM is 9-29 in Fort Collins, but won its last match against the Rams in five on Nov. 17, 2018. Colorado State won the first match in three (25-16, 25-16, 25-15) in Albuquerque, but the Lobos won 25-22, 25-22, 22-25, 17-25, 16-14 in Fort Collins.
WYOMING
Wyoming enters MW play 0-1 on the road, 3-2 in three sets, 1-2 in four sets and 1-2 in five sets.
They have just one common non-conference opponent with the Lobos in Northern Colorado, in which the Cowgirls won in five sets.
Jackie McBride and KC McMahon each have 100 kills on the season to lead the team while Mackenzie Coates has a team-high 345 assists, an average of 8.41 a/s, and has accounted for 75 percent of the assists on the team. Madi Fields leads the Cowgirls with nine service aces and 182 digs (4.33 d/s). McBride also leads in blocks with 48 total, eight solo, an average of 1.14 b/s.
Wyoming was picked to finish second in the MW preseason poll with 79 votes.
SERIES vs. WYOMING
UNM and Wyoming have met 81 times prior with the Cowgirls holding the series lead 47-34. In Albuquerque, the Lobos are 19-21. Wyoming swept the series in 2018 with a 3-2 win in Albuquerque (25-14, 23-25, 25-15, 19-25, 15-9) and a 3-0 win in Laramie (25-19, 25-21, 25-15).
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.