UNM Concludes Season with Sweep Over Air Force
USAFA, Colo.— If there was ever a way to end a season, The University of New Mexico volleyball team achieved it on Thursday night at Air Force.
In the final match of the 2019 season, the Lobos swept the Falcons 25-14, 25-14, 25-19, bookending the season with sweeps after opening the season with a sweep over Rutgers.
“Wonderful to watch our team finish the season playing if not one of our best matches of the season,” head coach Jon Newman-Gonchar said after the completion of his first season at the helm of the Lobos.
It was a complete performance for the Lobos, as UNM led the Falcons in every statistical category. The Lobos outhit the Falcons .337 to .085, and led in kills (43-31), assists (41-29), service aces (3-1), digs (45-34) and points (57.0-34.0). The .337 clip was the best hitting percentage for the Lobos this season and the 41 assists were the most the Lobos have recorded in a three-set match this season. The 43 kills tied the team high in kills in a three-set match as well.
With the win, the Lobos won five of their last seven matches, two coming in straight sets, to finish the season 11-19, 6-12 in conference play.
And, if there was ever a way to cap a collegiate career, Tai Bierria, Lauren Twitty and Maddie Freiwald achieved it.
Bierria and Twitty finished the night with 10 kills each to lead the Lobo offense, with Twitty hitting .389, the second-highest hitting percentage on the year for the outside hitter. Her highest was .485, which she hit in the first match of the season against Rutgers. Both Twitty and Bierria also added a service ace, and Twitty finished two digs shy of a double-double. Freiwald finished with 14 assists, the third-straight match that the graduate student has posted 10 or more assists and the eighth time in the last 10 matches.
As if it could have been scripted, on the final play of the season, Twitty received the Air Force serve, passed it to Freiwald for the set and Bierria finished with the kill.
Jaclyn Inclan recorded her 13th double-double of the season with a team-high 22 assists and match-high 11 digs for her third double-double in four matches.
Once again, the Lobos finished with double figures in team blocks with 11.0, the seventh-straight match that the team has recorded 10-plus. Leading the charge was Rachel Murphy, who tallied six assisted blocks, while Yasmin Tan had a solo and three assisted and Twitty added a solo and an assisted. UNM out-blocked Air Force 11.0-2.0 in the match.
Danica Rowan finished with four assisted blocks as well as with six kills on eight swings with no errors for a .750 hitting clip.
Although there were three ties, the Lobos never trailed in the first set as they won 25-14. Kaitlynn Biassou and Twitty recorded kills and Twitty added a solo block as the Lobos scored three of the first four points of the set to gain the early edge. Air Force responded to tie the set at four but the Lobos took the next two points on an attack error and a Bierria kill to regain the lead. Following a 3-0 run in which Rowan and Tan combined for a block, Tan and Biassou combined for a block and Bierria recorded a kill, the Lobo lead expanded to four at 10-6. A Twitty kill restored the four-point cushion at 14-10 and the Lobos led 15-10 at the media timeout following a Murphy and Inclan block. The margin grew to seven at 18-11 on a Murphy kill, to which the Falcons cut to five, but UNM got the points right back to push the gap back to seven at 20-13 on an attack error and Rowan kill. After a kill by Air Force made it 20-14 UNM scored the last five points of the set with a 5-0 run on a Rowan kill, a Bierria kill, a Falcon attack error, a Tan solo block and a ball handling error by AFA to win 25-14.
UNM hit .448 in the opening set with 15 kills and two errors on 29 attempts, behind five kills from Twitty who hit .571, and three each from Murphy, Rowan and Bierria. Inclan assisted on eight points and recorded an assisted block.
In addition, the Lobos recorded 5.0 total blocks with Tan accounting for a solo and two assisted and Twitty registering a solo.
The second set contained three ties as well and one lead change as UNM used a 6-0 run to turn a deficit into a final lead change in the 11-point set win. Air Force scored the first two points before Biassou put the Lobos on the board with a cross court kill. A Twitty kill evened the set at two and there was an exchange of 2-0 runs to create another tie at four. Air Force pulled ahead 7-4, but the Lobos answered to eventually tie the set at eight and take the lead. A kill by Murphy that made it 8-6 started the momentum-turning run, which was followed by a kill by Rowan and an Air Force attack error that tied the set at eight-all . A Twitty ace gave UNM its first lead of the set at 9-8 and from there, the Lobos would build on their lead with kills by Bierria and Murphy on what amounted to a 6-0 UNM run to turn an 8-5 deficit in to a three-point lead. Air Force got two points back to cut the lead to one but Bierria went cross court, putting the ball in the back corner for the kill to create a little separation. UNM used a 3-0 run capped by a Bierria ace to push the lead to five at 17-12 and a bad AFA set and a Biassou kill kept the run alive out of a Falcon timeout to make it a seven-point margin. The lead would get up to 10 at 23-13 following a 4-0 run on a Tan kill, consecutive Biassou kills and a Twitty and Murphy block. From there, the Lobos would reach set point at 24-14 on a Falcon attack error and another attack error on the following play gave UNM the second set by an identical 25-14 score. UNM closed on a 13-3 run after Air Force cut the Lobo lead to one at 12-11.
UNM continued to hit at an efficient rate in the second set, hitting .414 on 14 kills and two errors on 29 attempts, with five from Biassou, who hit .625 on eight swings and no errors. The Lobos added 2.0 more blocks with Murphy assisting on both.
In what was the closest set of the evening, the two teams combined for 10 ties and six lead changes, but the Lobos ran away with the third set with a late 3-0 run. Bierria opened up the set with a kill and after Air Force scored the next two points, an Inclan dump over the net that fell in between the Air Force players tied the set at two. A Murphy kill tied the set at three and a Murphy and Inclan block gave UNM the 4-3 lead. A Twitty kill broke the four-all tie and a kill by Rowan followed by a Rowan and Murphy block pushed the Lobos in front 7-4, the largest lead for either team up to that point. Air Force got the points back to tie the set at seven and pulled ahead following a long rally and an attack error by UNM that made it a two-point deficit for the Lobos on what was a 5-0 AFA run. A Rowan and Murphy block followed by a Rowan and Tan block tied the set at nine and a Bierria kill regained the Lobo lead, which was short lived as Air Force re-tied the set on the next play. A 3-0 run allowed Air Force to lead 13-11 but a Tan kill and Falcon attack error created another tie, the ninth of the set. Biassou tallied her seventh kill of the set to put UNM back in front, and the Lobos would lead 15-14 at the media timeout following a final tie at 14. Out of the timeout, Moldan would serve an ace and Murphy would register a kill to push the gap to three. The Falcons would make a final push to pull within one at 17-16, but the Lobos used a 3-0 run capped by Twitty’s 10th kill of the match to push the lead to four at 20-16. Air Force got as close as three late in the set at 21-18, but a Rowan kill kept the margin from getting any smaller. A Bierria tip pushed the lead to five at 23-18, an attack error by Air Force gave UNM match point and Bierria finished the night with a final kill to give the Lobos the 25-19 set win for the sweep.
In the final set of the match, Bierria tallied four kills and Twitty added three, while Inclan added seven more assists. The Lobos hit .189 as a team with 14 kills, but recorded 4.0 more blocks with Rowan and Murphy accounting for three of them.
The Lobos lose just three players from the roster to graduation.
“I’m deeply grateful to our seniors for the work they put in this season,” Newman-Gonchar said.
“The future is so incredibly bright for this program and we can’t wait to get back to work to build on the end of the season momentum we built this season.”