Open Announce

UNM Concludes Non-Conference Schedule at North Texas

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.– The University of New Mexico volleyball team is set to finish the non-conference portion of its schedule this weekend at the North Texas Challenge in Denton, Texas with three matches starting on Thursday afternoon.

Hosted by the University of North Texas at the North Texas Volleyball Center, the Lobos (3-6) will face the Ohio Bobcats (6-4), the North Texas Mean Green (5-4) and the Kansas State Wildcats (4-5).  Historically, the Lobos have played Ohio and Kansas State just once and Friday’s match against North Texas will be the first meeting. However, the last time UNM played KSU was 30 years ago and for OU it was 16 years ago. 

UNM will play one match a day over the course of three days, starting with OU on Thursday at 3 p.m. MT. The Lobos will then play the host Mean Green on Friday night at 5 p.m. MT and close out the weekend against the Wildcats on Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. MT.

GAME NOTES | LIVE STATS (OHIO) | LIVE STATS (UNT) | LIVE STATS (KSU)

NEWS AND NOTES

REWIND THE TAPE
The Lobos went 1-2 on the weekend with two matches going three sets and one going five sets. UNM dropped its first match of the Redhawk Invitational to Gonzaga 25-19, 25-20, 25-17. The Lobos then played Oregon State that afternoon and split the first two sets losing 22-25 in the first and winning 25-23 in the second. UNM won the third set 25-18 before OSU forced a fifth set with a 25-22 win. The Beavers won the fifth set, 15-10, and the match. 
In the match with the Beavers, Lauren Twitty recorded the 1000th kill of her career and freshman Kaitlynn Biassou tallied 23 kills, the first Lobo to record over 20 kills in a match this season and the most by a Lobo player since Twitty posted 25 in 2017. 
In the final match of the weekend against host Seattle, the Lobos broke through with a sweep of the Redhawks (25-22, 25-17, 25-19) to break SU’s three-match win streak and ending UNM’s three-match losing streak. Rachel Murphy registered a career-high nine kills and hit .636 to  lead the Lobos while assisting on five blocks.
Biassou led the Lobos with 40 kills on the weekend with Jaclyn Inclan contributing a team-high 61 assists and Twitty had six service aces. Murphy led with 12 total blocks and Alena Moldan had a team-high 56 digs to once again lead the Lobos. 

1000K ACHIEVED
In the third set against OSU, senior outside hitter Lauren 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. 
Twitty currently has 1013 kills in her career and has played in 95 career matches. The senior co-captain is expected to reach her 100th match played at UNM on Oct. 3 at Fresno State. 

SERVING FOUR
The Lobos have tallied four service aces in five matches this season and recorded a season-high eight in the match against SeattleU. In the last match against the Redhawks, four different Lobos registered two aces. 
Twitty leads the Lobos with 13 aces and has recorded two aces in a match six times this season. Eight different Lobos have tallied a service ace this season, and of those seven have multiple aces on the season.

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 in the match. The Nevada native is third on the team in kills this season with 75 and blocks at 20.0. Since then she has started every match and has led the Lobos in kills in the last three matches and has had double figures in two matches. She broke out in the match against Oregon State with 23 kills.

Fellow freshman Alena Moldan has started all nine matches at the libero position and played in every set, recording double-digit digs in seven matches. 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 135 digs.

TWITTY TIME
Lauren Twitty is the top Lobo returner from 2018 after leading UNM in kills (407) with 3.86 kills per set and 23 service aces. Twitty accounted for 469.5 points, an average of 3.88 points per set, which was 26 percent of the team’s total points on the season. Twitty was also second in digs (291), averaging 2.40 a set and third in total blocks with 68 (11 solo). 

This season, she leads the team in kills with 103 (3.12 k/s), service aces (13), is second in blocks (23 total, seven solo) and third in digs (69, 2.09 d/s). She has also recorded three double-doubles.

In her career, Twitty has 1,013 kills, 63 service aces, 705 digs, 170 total blocks and 1175.5 points. 
Twitty entered the season having been named to the MW Preseason Team and has been named to the Northern Colorado Classic and Borderland Invitational All-Tournament Teams.

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 (83) and points (93), tied for second in service aces (6) and fourth in digs (66).

INCLAN CAN DO IT ALL
Inclan, a redshirt-sophomore setter, is averaging 6.19 assists a set, tallying a team-high 198 this season. She also contributed with nine kills, 82 digs (second most on the team), five total blocks (one solo) and six service aces. She had a career-high 42 assists against GCU and has had three matches with 30 or more assists. The Arizona native filled the stat sheet in 2018, making her mark across the board for the Lobos.Serving as a setter, Inclan was second on the team in assists with 520, third in service aces at 16 as well as tallied 18 kills, 150 digs and 14 assisted blocks. The Arizona native contributed 41 points to the team’s season total and played in 119 sets over 30 matches, starting in six. 

LONG TIME GONE
The Lobos will spend their first four weekends of the 2019 season on the road in non-conference tournaments before opening at home on Saturday, Sept. 28 against Wyoming. UNM will travel 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
Nine matches in to the season, the Lobos have already played three, 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 yet to play a four-set match, playing six, three-set matches and three, five-set matches.

ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
OHIO
Ohio enters the tournament having won its last five matches with the last three matches being sweeps over Virginia, College of Charleston and Connecticut. In their win streak the Bobcats have also defeated Winthrop and American in five. 
The Bobcats lost in four to Fresno State in their first match of the season at the Green Bay Invite. They are 4-2 in neutral matches, 4-0 in three-set matches, 0-3 in four sets and 2-1 in five.

Maggie Nedoma leads the team with 115 kills (3.03 k/s) and Lizzie Stephens leads with 22 service aces. Leading the Bobcats in assists is Vera Giacomazzi with 412, an average of 10.5 per set, and accounts for 412 of the team’s 459 assists (90 percent), while also second on the team in digs at 101. Macy Reihing has tallied a team-high 170 digs (4.36 d/s). Dahlias Bouyer leads in total blocks with 42 (eight solo). 

The Bobcats were picked to finish third in the Mid-American Conference East Division preseason poll while Giacomazzi, Stephens and Tia Jimerson were named to the Preseason All-MAC East team. 

OU is 2-2 in neutral matches this season and have won its last five matches, three of which were sweeps and two in five. 
SERIES VS. OHIO
New Mexico and Ohio have only played once historically, which took place in 2003. The Bobcats won in four in Albuquerque. 

NORTH TEXAS
North Texas has won its last three matches with three sweeps over Prairie View A&M, Abilene Christian and Cal State Fullerton. They are 2-1 at home with wins over Pepperdine (five sets) and Tulsa (four sets), but lost in four to Illinois State. 
The Mean Green lost in five to San Jose State. They are 3-1 in three-set matches, 1-2 in four sets and 1-1 in five. 

Valerie Valerian leads the team in kills (143, 4.2 kills per set), Aleeyah Galdeira is second in digs (133, 4.03 d/s) and Sarah Haeussler leads in total blocks with 32 (two solo). Kaliegh Skopal has a team-high six service aces and has accounted for 358 of the team’s 391 assists (92 percent), averaging 10.5 assists per set.

UNT was picked to finish fourth in the Conference USA Volleyball Preseason Poll with outside hitter Valerian selected First-Team All-Conference USA. Last season the Mean Green advanced to the third round of the NIVC, losing to Iowa State. 
SERIES vs. NORTH TEXAS
This will be the first meeting between the two teams.

KANSAS STATE
Kansas State enters the tournament having lost its last three matches, twice in five sets and one in four. Prior to that, the Wildcats were on a three-match win streak, again with two in five sets and one in four. KSU is 1-3 this season in neutral matches, are 2-2 in four-set matches and 2-3 in five sets. 

Brynn Carlson leads the team with 121 kills (3.10 k/s) and Sarah Dixon leads with 385 of the team’s 462 assists (83 percent), averaging 9.4 assists per set. Dru Kuck has a team-high 175 digs (4.27 d/s) and 10 service aces. Peyton Williams leads in blocking with 30 total blocks (three solo) as well as points with 134.5.  

The Wildcats were picked to finish fifth in the Big 12 Preseason Poll. 

SERIES vs. KANSAS STATE
The Lobos have played the Wildcats just once previously, a three-set win for UNM on Aug. 31, 1989. The last time the Lobos played a Big 12 team was Texas in 2014, which they lost in three.

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.