Lobos Head Back on Road to Face Nevada and San José State
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.– Life on the road continues for The University of New Mexico volleyball team as the Lobos prepare for their next weekend of Mountain West contests. This week finds UNM traveling to Reno, Nev. and San Jose, Calif., to face the Nevada Wolf Pack (14-4, 4-2 MW) on Thursday evening and the San José State Spartans (6-11, 1-5 MW) on Saturday afternoon.
GAME NOTES | LIVE STATS (NEVADA) | LIVE STREAM (NEVADA) | LIVE STATS (SJSU) | LIVE STREAM (SJSU)
UNM (5-13, 0-6 MW) historically has winning records against both teams, leading the series against Nevada 11-2 (6-1 in Reno) and 15-6 against San José State (6-3 in San Jose).
NEWS AND NOTES
NEW MEXICO DROPS TWO AT HOME
The Lobos fell in both of their week seven matches, falling to Boise State in four and Utah State in five.UNM won the first set against the Broncos 25-21 but dropped the next three 25-17, 27-25 and 25-22, with the Lobos holding two set points in the third set. Against the Aggies, the Lobos got out to a 2-0 set lead with a 25-19 and 25-23 set wins, respectively, before dropping the next three 25-15, 25-17, 15-11. Lauren Twitty registered a double-double, her seventh of the season, with 18 kills and 18 digs with Kaitlynn Biassou matching her with 18 kills. Making her first collegiate start for the Lobos, Abbey Willison led with three assisted blocks and recorded her first collegiate kill.On the week, Biassou led the team with 34.0 points and 32 kills and hit an efficient .397 on 62 swings, while Jaclyn Inclan accounted for 47 assists, averaging 5.22 a/s. Maddie Freiwald nearly matched that with 44 assists and 4.89 a/s. Alena Moldan tallied 35 digs and Rachel Murphy led in blocks with five, all assisted. Tai Bierria had a team-high two service aces.
GOING HOME
Thursday’s match against Nevada will provide a homecoming for freshman outside hitter Kaitlynn Biassou, who is from Sparks, Nev. Biassou graduated from Reno High School.
SERVING UP A PERFECT 10
The Lobos served up 10 aces twice at the North Texas Challenge, setting season highs in the category.
UNM first reached the mark against North Texas 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 the 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 and Bierria has recorded at least one ace in eight of the last 10 matches.
UNM has five players with 10 or more aces led by Twitty with 19. Bierria is one behind with 18, Freiwald has 16 and Inclan and Moldan have 12. Nine Lobos have at least one ace and seven have multiple.
MURPHY IN THE MIDDLE
Middle blocker Rachel Murphy has had a stellar sophomore campaign, setting several career highs throughout the season. The Wisconsin native has started every match but one and played in 63 sets, currently leading the Lobos in total blocks with 67.0 (eight solo), averaging 1.06 b/s. She is fourth on the team in kills (74) and points (112.5).
In the match against Wyoming, Murphy set a career high in kills (14), total blocks (8) and attacks (27) and hit .407, the fourth-highest hitting percentage on the team in a match this season. She recorded a career-high six digs at North Texas and tallied three solo blocks in the match against Kansas State.
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 points in the match. Since then, she has started every match and has had double figures in kills in six matches, including the last three. She broke out in the match against Oregon State with 23 kills, the first and only Lobo to reach 20 kills on the season and the most since Lauren Twitty had 25 in 2017. The Nevada native is third on the team in kills this season with 155 and fourth in blocks at 36.0.
Fellow freshman Alena Moldan has started all 18 matches at the libero position and played in every set, recording double-digit digs in 13 matches and 20-plus digs in five. 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 268 digs, an average of 3.88 digs per set.
ADDING TO THE MILESTONES
After already reaching one milestone this season, senior outside hitter Lauren Twitty added to her achievements at UNM. The senior co-captain played her 100th match at UNM against Wyoming on Saturday, Sept. 28. 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.
Next on the milestone watch is setter Jaclyn Inclan, who is nearing 1000 career assists as a Lobo. The redshirt-sophomore has 909, just 91 shy of the milestone.
INSTANT CONTRIBUTOR
After transferring from Memphis, outside hitter Tai Bierria made an immediate impact for the Lobos in 2018, finishing with the second-highest kill total as well as point total on the team behind Twitty.
Bierria had 359 kills and 377.0 points, appearing in 120 sets, starting in 24 of the 30 matches, and registered double-digit kills in 22 matches.
This season, Bierria is second on the team in kills (174), points (205), digs (163) and service aces (18) with three double-doubles and has recorded a service ace in 11 matches including at least one in eight of the last 10. She had a career-high four against Kansas State. The Georgia native has also tallied double-digit kills in nine matches, including four of the last five.
INCLAN CAN DO IT ALL
Jaclyn Inclan, a redshirt-sophomore setter, is averaging 5.72 assists a set, tallying a team-high 389 this season. She also contributed with 16 kills, 152 digs, five blocks (one solo) and 12 service aces. She had a career-high 42 assists against GCU and has had five matches with 30 or more assists. The Arizona native has also registered six double-doubles.
AUSSIE, AUSSIE, AUSSIE (OI, OI, OI!)
Middle blocker Yasmin Tan is finding her role in the starting lineup and making an impact at the net. The junior has started in all 18 matches and played in all but one set. The Melbourne, Australia native is currently second on the team in blocks with 44 (three solo) and fifth in kills with 50 and points (78.5). Nineteen matches in, the junior has already surpassed her season-high totals in total blocks and service aces (five).
LONG TIME GONE
Of the first 18 matches of the season, UNM has played on the road in all but three.
The Lobos spent their first four weekends of the 2019 season on the road in non-conference tournaments and opened the conference schedule at Colorado State before opening at home on Saturday, Sept. 28 against Wyoming.
During the non-conference portion of the schedule, UNM travelled 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
Eighteen matches in to the season, the Lobos have already played six, 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 three four-set matches, playing nine, three-set matches and six, five-set matches.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
NEVADA
Nevada has started the conference season 4-2 with wins over San Diego State (four sets), Boise State (four sets), Utah State (three sets) and San José State (five sets) while losing to Fresno State (three sets) and Air Force (four sets). Before losing to Air Force, the Wolf Pack had won their last four matches. The Wolf Pack have had two common non-conference opponents with the Lobos in Gonzaga and Pacific. Nevada lost to Pacific in a scrimmage and beat Gonzaga in three sets.
Kayla Afoa leads the team with 246 kills, an average of 3.57 k/s and with 288.5 points (4.18 pts/s). Dalyn Burns has accounted for 697 of the team’s 861 assists (81 percent) and is averaging 10.10 a/s. From the service line, Mandalay Rennon leads Nevada with 22 aces. Defensively, Ryan Blackwood has a team-high 255 digs (3.70 d/s) with Afoa 12 behind her in the category. Sydney Petersen leads with a total of 96.0 blocks (four solo).
Nevada sits third in the conference standings, is 5-1 at home this season this season, 5-2 in three sets, 6-1 in four sets and 3-1 in five sets. They are also 8-2 in their last 10 matches.
SERIES vs. NEVADA
The two teams have played 13 times with UNM leading the series 11-2. UNM is 6-1 in Reno and has won the last two meetings.
SAN JOSE STATE
San José State started conference play 1-5 with a three-set win over Air Force, but has lost to San Diego State (five sets), Fresno State (three sets), Utah State (five sets) and Boise State (four sets). The Spartans have had three common non-conference opponents with the Lobos in North Texas, Northern Colorado and Pacific. SJSU won in five against the Mean Green and lost in three to the Bears and in four to the Tigers. Haylee Nelson leads the Spartans in kills and points, with 203 kills on the season, averaging 3.12 k/s and 229.0 points (3.52 pts/s), while Mamie Garard leads in assists with an average of 6.23 a/s, and has accounted for 51 percent of the assists on the team with 386. Thaliana Grajeda leads with 21 service aces as well as 48.0 total blocks (three solo). Sarah Smevog has a team-high 280 digs (4.31 d/s).
SJSU is 2-2 at home, 4-4 in three sets, 1-3 in four sets and 1-4 in five sets.
SERIES vs. SAN JOSE STATE
UNM is 15-6 all-time against SJSU, 6-3 in San Jose. The Lobos are 3-2 in the last five matches and 7-3 in the last 10. UNM’s last win at SJSU was 10/3/15, a three-set win.
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.