Lobo Volleyball Signs Wolf to NLI
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— In his first signing class at the helm of The University of New Mexico volleyball program, head coach Jon Newman-Gonchar and his staff have signed Kali Wolf to a National Letter of Intent, as announced by the program on Wednesday.
An outside hitter from Waconia, Minn. and Waconia High School, the newest Lobo is regarded as one of the top players from the state of Minnesota by PrepVolleyball, having been ranked the No. 1 player in 2018 and the No. 5 player in 2019. During her high school career, Wolf became the all-time career leader in kills and digs with 1440 kills and 1346 digs, reaching the 1000-kills mark in 2018 and the 1000-digs mark in 2019.
“We are excited to welcome Kali to Albuquerque and can’t wait to have her on campus,” Newman-Gonchar said. “Kali stood out to us from the very beginning of the recruitment process as she is not only a very focused and high-achieving student but also an extremely talented volleyball player. Kali will have an immediate impact in our depth at the outside hitter position.”
Standing at 6-2, Wolf was named all-conference the past three years, earned all-conference honorable mention in 2016 and 2015 and was named to the Star Tribune All-Metro Third Team in 2018 and Star Tribune All-Metro Second Team in 2019. Additionally, Wolf was named all-state first team in 2019 as well as AVCA High School All-Region for Region 7 in 2019.
As a member of the varsity team for five years, Waconia won the Wright County Conference her freshman and sophomore years.
Academically, Wolf garnered MNVBCA Academic All-State for five years and was a member of the National Honor Society in 2018 and 2019.
At the club level, the UNM signee played for 951 Elite, Waconia JO and Mizuno Northern Lights and has a myriad of accolades as well. Wolf was named an AAU Volleyball Academic All-American five times. In 2016, she was a member of the AAU 14 Club National Championship team.
Intending on majoring in biomedical engineering, Wolf chose UNM because, “of the culture I felt on campus. This program with the new coaching staff and Lobo community felt very supportive.”
The Lobos will graduate two outside hitters in Lauren Twitty and Tai Bierria.