ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.– The University of New Mexico volleyball team heads to Logan, Utah and Boise, Idaho for their second-to-last road trip of the season. The Lobos and Aggies will square off on Thursday, Nov. 7 at 7 p.m. MT and the match against the Broncos will be on Saturday, Nov. 9 at noon MT.
UNM is coming off of a 1-1 record in week 10, falling to San Diego State on Thursday night in four sets (20-25, 25-15, 21-25, 14-25) before picking up a hard-fought five-set win over Fresno State in which all but one set was determined by two points (23-25, 25-21, 24-26, 25-23, 15-13). Of note, in Saturday’s win against the Bulldogs, UNM tallied 17.0 total blocks (two solo, 30 assisted) to tie the season high with Kaitlynn Biassou having a season-best eight total blocks (one solo, seven assisted). On the week, Biassou and Lauren Twitty led the team with 27 kills with Tai Bierria closely behind with 25 and hitting .288. Jaclyn Inclan accounted for 55 assists, averaging 6.11 a/s. Alena Moldan led in digs with 26 for the second straight week, an average of 2.89 d/s, and Yasmin Tan led in blocks with 12, two solo and 10 assisted, an average of 1.33 b/s. Incan, Bierria and Twitty all finished the week with two service aces. Twitty recorded two double-doubles on the week, with Inclan and Bierria each tallying one.
GAME NOTES | LIVE STATS (USU) | LIVE STREAM (USU) | LIVE STATS (BSU) | LIVE STREAM (BSU)
NEWS AND NOTES
DOUBLE-DIGIT HITTERS
The Lobos are getting consistent and even contribution from their three starting outside hitters. Lauren Twitty leads the group with 294 kills and has recorded double figures in the category in 16 of the 24 matches and in eight of the last 10 matches, including a streak of six-straight matches, led by a season-high 20 in the win at Nevada. The senior has also tallied four double-doubles in the last seven matches and has 10 on the season. Tai Bierria has 241 kills, recording 10-plus in 13 matches, including five of the last seven and seven of the last 10. Her season high of 17 also came at Nevada but her best hitting percentage came on Thursday against San Diego State (15-2-34, .382). Freshman Kaitlynn Biassou has caught fire as of late to be a key contributor to the Lobo offense, recording 10 or more kills in seven of the last 10 matches, including a streak of five-straight matches and hit an efficient and season-high .438 against Utah State with 18 kills on 32 swings. She followed that up with 19 kills at Nevada, hitting .359.
MURPHY IN THE MIDDLE
After missing three matches due to injury, middle blocker Rachel Murphy started to get back in to the swing of things after returning to the starting lineup against Air Force, capped by seven assisted blocks in the match against Fresno State on Saturday.
Murphy has had a stellar sophomore campaign, setting several career highs throughout the season. The Wisconsin native has started every match but three and played in 80 sets, currently leading the Lobos in total blocks with 82.0 (10 solo), averaging 1.02 b/s. She is fourth on the team in kills (95) and points (142.0). She rank ninth in the conference in blocks per set and 10th in total blocks.
In the match against Wyoming, Murphy set a career high in kills (14), total blocks (8) and attacks (27) and hit .407, the third-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 10 matches, including seven of the last nine. 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. The Nevada native is third on the team in kills this season with 229 and in points (258, 2.90 pts/s), second in hitting percentage (.199) and fourth in blocks at 54.0 (four solo).
In Saturday’s win versus Fresno State, Biassou accounted for the first five Lobo points in the fifth set with four kills and a solo block and tallied consecutive kills late in the set to give UNM match point at 14-10, the largest lead in the set for either team. Biassou finished with six kills in the set and a solo block, with her 7.0 points matching the entire Fresno State team total in the set.
Fellow freshman Alena Moldan has started all 24 matches at the libero position and played in every set, recording double-digit digs in 18 matches, including seven in the last eight matches and 20-plus digs in six. 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 by over 120 digs with 347 digs, an average of 3.69 digs per set. In the conference, she ranks fifth in total digs.
ADDING TO THE MILESTONES
Setter Jaclyn Inclan reached the 1000 assist milestone of her career in the second set against San Diego State on Thursday evening. In her two years at UNM, Inclan recorded 520 assists her first year and this season has surpassed that with 522 assists and counting with six matches left to play. Inclan leads the team in assists this season and is averaging 5.80 assists per set, up from 4.37 a/s from 2018.
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.
INCLAN CAN DO IT ALL
Jaclyn Inclan, a redshirt-sophomore setter, is averaging 5.80 assists a set, tallying a team-high 522 this season (53 percent of the team’s total). She also contributed with 24 kills, 220 digs (second-most on the team), five blocks (one solo) and 14 service aces. She had a career-high 42 assists against GCU and a career-high 26 digs at Nevada and has had six matches with 30 or more assists. The Arizona native has also registered 10 double-doubles, including four in her last five matches.
TWITTY TIME
This season, senior outside hitter Lauren Twitty leads the team in kills with 294 (3.13 k/s), service aces (24), is third in blocks (59.0 total, 11 solo) and fourth in digs (199, 2.12 d/s). She has also recorded 10 double-doubles and double-digit kills in 16 matches, including the last two and eight of the last 10. Twitty has accounted for 11 solo blocks in each of the last three years but has surpassed her season best in service aces in a season and is hitting a career-best .195.
Last season, Twitty recorded double-digit kills in 21 matches and 20-plus kills in four while recording a team-high 13 double-doubles on the year. In her career, Twitty has 1,204 kills, 74 service aces, 835 digs, 206 total blocks and 1,397.5 points. Her 1,204 kills and 1397.5 ranks the outside hitter sixth all-time in UNM history in both categories.
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 leads the team in hitting percentge (.207), is second on the team in kills (241), points (279), and service aces (23) and is third in digs (209) with five double-doubles and has recorded a service ace in 16 matches including at least one in eight of the last 12. She had a career-high four against Kansas State. The Georgia native has also tallied double-digit kills in 13 matches, including the last two and seven of the last 10.
GOING THE DISTANCE
Saturday’s match against Fresno State was the eighth time in the 24 matches this season that the Lobos have played a five-set match, 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 six four-set matches, playing 10, three-set matches and eight, five-set matches. UNM is 3-7 in three-set matches, 1-5 in four sets and 3-5 in five sets.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
UTAH STATE (2-22, 2-10 MW)
Since the Lobos played the Aggies on Oct. 12, USU has gone 0-6 with a 0-5 record in three sets and 0-1 in five sets. USU is 2-10 in the conference and enters the week on a six-match losing streak, with five loses coming in sweeps.
Hailey Cuff leads the Aggies in kills with 131 kills on the season, averaging 2.15 k/s, with Bailey Downing one behind her, while Heidi Carpenter leads in assists with an average of 5.35 a/s, and has accounted for 61 percent of the assists on the team with 444, as well as a team-high 23 service aces. Downing leads the Aggies in points with 184.0 and blocks with 94.0 (eight solo), averaging 1.11 blocks per set. Grace DuBay leads with 254 digs (3.14 d/s).
Utah State is 1-9 at home, 0-15 in three sets, 0-3 in four sets and 2-4 in five sets.
SERIES vs. UTAH STATE
The Aggies took the first meeting of the season in a reverse sweep (19-25, 23-25, 25-15, 25-17, 15-11) as Lauren Twitty recorded a double-double with 18 kills and 18 digs and Kaitlynn Biassou hit .438 and equaled Twitty in kills. Maddie Freiwald notched a season-high 28 assists to go along with 21 from Jaclyn Inclan. At the net, Abbey Willison led with three assisted blocks in her first career start.
UNM and USU have met 31 times prior with the Lobos holding a 18-13 series lead. The Lobos are 8-3 in Logan. UNM is 3-2 in the last five matches and 7-3 in the last 10.
BOISE STATE (15-8, 7-5 MW)
Since the Lobos played the Broncos on Oct. 10, Boise State went 3-4, going 2-0 in three sets, 0-2 in four sets and 1-2 in five sets. BSU is currently 7-5 in conference play and enters the week on a one-match losing streak after losing to Nevada in four. Their loss to Nevada broke a three-match win streak for the Broncos.
Janell Walley leads the team with 249 kills, an average of 3.07 k/s and with 308.0 points (3.80 pts/s). Danielle Boss has accounted for 862 of the team’s 1007 assists (86 percent) and is averaging 10.02 a/s and leads from the service line with 29 aces. Defensively, Allison Casillas has a team-high 271 digs (3.35 d/s) with Walley behind her in the category with 226. Jessica Donahue leads with a total of 131.0 blocks (14 solo) and is fourth in the nation in blocks per set (1.56) and first in the conference. She ranks first in the MW in total blocks and ninth in the NCAA.
Boise State is 4-3 at home this season, 7-3 in three sets, 6-3 in four sets and 2-2 in five sets.
SERIES vs. BOISE STATE
The Broncos won the first meeting of the season with scores of 21-25, 25-17, 27-25, 25-22. Kaitlynn Biassou led with 14 kills in the match and Jaclyn Inclan was credited with a team-high 26 assists and added 13 digs for a double-double. Danica Rowan notched several statistical highs in the match after tallying 10 kills for the second time in four matches, matching her career high, while hitting a career-high .318 and tied her career high in digs with four. Alena Moldan led UNM in digs with 15 and at the net, UNM had 7.0 total blocks in the match with Rachel Murphy assisting on a team-high five blocks.
New Mexico and Boise State have met 16 times previously with the Lobos leading the series 9-7. UNM is 4-4 in Boise and the Broncos have won four of the last five meetings.
ON THE HORIZON
Following the road trip to Utah State and Boise State, the Lobos will have three final home matches of the season starting with San Jose State on Thursday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. UNM will then host Nevada on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 1 p.m. with a final home match against UNLV on Tuesday, Nov. 19 at 7 p.m. Both the SJSU and Nevada matches will be held in the Johnson Center while the match against UNLV will be in Dreamstyle Arena – The Pit. Fans can purchase tickets for all three matches in advance HERE.
PRIDE PASS
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.