Lobos Continue Winning Ways with Sweep of Nevada

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The University of New Mexico volleyball team was in control for most of the Mountain West match on Saturday afternoon at the Johnson Center as the Lobos swept the Nevada Wolf Pack 25-19, 25-17, 25-21 to earn the season sweep.

In addition, it was UNM’s second-straight win and fourth in five matches as the Lobos picked up their 10th win of the season to improve to 10-18, 5-11 in conference. Furthermore, the sweep is also UNM’s first sweep since Sept. 14 when the Lobos won in three at Seattle, and is the fourth-straight match that the Lobos have defeated Nevada.

Reno, Nev.- native Kaitlynn Biassou was a force for the Lobos offensively, racking up a match-high 14 kills and hit .478, with the freshman outside hitter the only player between both teams to reach double figures in kills. Biassou now has recorded double-digit kills in the last six matches and in 11 of the last 13 matches.

Setter Jaclyn Inclan recorded her second double-double of the week with a match-high 22 assists and added 10 digs for her 12th double-double of the season, a team high. Inclan accounted for 22 of the team’s 38 total assists in the match.

At the net, middle blocker Rachel Murphy registered a match-high nine block assists to lead the Lobos, with the team finishing with 13.0 total blocks on a solo (Biassou) and 24 assisted blocks. Of note, it is the fifth consecutive match that the Lobos have surpassed double digits in the category.

Alena Moldan, Inclan and Lauren Twitty each recorded a service ace in the match as UNM held a 3-1 advantage in the category.

Moldan also tied Inclan in digs with 10 for the team high.

UNM outhit Nevada .269 to .043, the lowest hitting percentage for the Wolf Pack this season and held a 13-3 advantage in total blocks.

The Lobos opened the afternoon match with the first two points of the set with a kill from Biassou and Nevada attack error and jumped out to a 5-2 lead. The Wolf Pack rallied to tie the set at five and take an 8-5 lead, which Danica Rowan ended with a kill. Tai Bierria brought the Lobos back within one with a kill and Twitty evened the set with an ace. There would be ties at nine, 10 and 11 before an attack error by the Wolf Pack gave UNM the lead back. Nevada tied the set at 13, the final tie of the opening set before a Biassou kill provided the final lead change. The Lobos would hold a two-point lead at the media timeout and out of the timeout, the Lobos would record three blocks with two from Murphy and Inclan to build a four-point cushion at 17-13. The Wolf Pack got as close as 20-17 before UNM went on a run with a Bierria kill, followed by a Biassou and Yasmin Tan block and a Biassou kill. An Inclan ace gave UNM set point at 24-17, which Nevada fought off twice before Biassou closed the set with a kill for the UNM set win.

Biassou finished the set with five kills and hitting .429 and the Lobos recorded 4.0 total blocks with Murphy contributing on three. UNM outhit Nevada .300 to .051 in the set with 13 kills, with seven ties and two lead changes between the teams.

The Lobos turned it up a notch in the second set, taking an early lead and holding the lead end-to-end for the eight-point set win.

Once again, the Lobos got out to an early lead (5-1) in the set on a Bierria kill, a Bierria and Tan block, a Nevada attack error and kills by Tan and Twitty. The Lobos would lead 8-2 through the first 10 points of the set and the lead would continue to grow with a kill by Biassou, capping a 4-0 run by UNM. A kill by Bierria, her fifth of eight in the match, later extended the lead to seven at 15-8. UNM’s lead would fluctuate between six and seven until a block by Twitty and Murphy pushed the lead to eight at 20-12. The margin would reach its greatest at set point at 24-13 behind a 4-0 UNM run with a Twitty kill, a Murphy and Rowan block and two attack errors from Nevada. The Wolf Pack would fight off set point four times before a block by Murphy and Bierria finished off the set.

The Lobos had 6.0 total blocks in the second set with Murphy assisting on four and Biassou added four kills on eight swings and no errors for a .500 hitting percentage and contributed a solo block. UNM outhit Nevada .278 to -.108 in the set with 14 team kills. Twitty and Murphy each tallied three kills with Murphy 3-for-7 with no errors for the .429 hitting percentage.

In the third set, UNM and Nevada had two ties but like the second set, the Lobos never trailed en route to the four-point set win.

UNM got out to another early lead, this time 4-1, with Biassou opening the set with three kills and assisting on a Murphy block for the fourth point. UNM’s lead was 7-3 before Nevada used a 6-3 run to close within one at 10-9 and again closed within one at 11-10. However, the Lobos would not allow Nevada to tally the tying point, extending the lead on an Inclan kill, the start of a 3-0 run to build a 14-10 lead. UNM would go on another 3-0 run to extend the gap to six at 17-11, but the Wolf Pack combated that with an 8-3 run to pull within one at 20-19 and would tie the set at 20 on the following play. From there, kills by Tan and Bierria regained the Lobo lead and although the Wolf Pack got within one at 22-21, UNM closed with the final three points to take the set on a Nevada service error, a Nevada attack error and a final Biassou kill.

Biassou finished the match with five kills in the final set, hitting .500 and added an assisted block. As a team, UNM had 16 kills and hit .238, and finished with 3.0 more total blocks with Murphy assisting on two.

Up next for UNM is the final home match of the season against UNLV on Tuesday, Nov. 19 with first serve scheduled for 7 p.m. in the Johnson Center. The Lobos will celebrate Senior Night and their three seniors: Twitty, Bierria and Maddie Freiwald.