Lobos Travel to Las Cruces for Borderland Invitational
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.– The University of New Mexico volleyball team continues its non-conference tournament schedule with three matches at the Pan American Center in Las Cruces starting on Friday morning.
The Lobos open the Borderland Invitational with Texas A&M- Corpus Christi (1-3) at 11 a.m. on Friday morning for their lone match of the day. The team will play two on Saturday with a match against Pacific (2-1) at 10 a.m. and a final match against New Mexico State (3-0) Saturday night at 7 p.m. Saturday’s match against NMSU will be streamed on the WAC Digital Network.
GAME NOTES | LIVE STATS (TEXAS A&M-CC) | LIVE STATS (PACIFIC ) | LIVE STATS (NMSU) | VIDEO (NMSU)
NEWS AND NOTES
REWIND THE TAPE
The Lobos secured their first win of the season in a straight-set victory over the Rutgers Scarlet Knights. After going up two sets against GCU, UNM dropped the next three to lose the match. In the final match against UNC, the Lobos fought back from down two sets to force a fifth set, including a hard-fought 32-30 third set to extend the match.
Lauren Twitty led the Lobos on the weekend after hitting .261 with 50 kills and five service aces in the tournament to be named to the All-Tournament Team. Jaclyn Inclan had 114 assists through the three matches, an average of 8.77 assists per set while having the second highest total in digs with 45. Alena Moldan led the team in digs with 56, an average of 4.31 digs per set. Rachel Murphy had a team-high 14 total blocks.
NEW START IN NEW MEXICO
First-year head coach Jon Newman-Gonchar picked up his first win as a head coach on Aug. 30 in a three-set win over Rutgers. Joining him on the bench are assistant coaches Jesse Tupac and April Sanchez with Ariel Sanchez serving as director of volleyball operations who are all in their first year at UNM.
MILESTONE WATCH
Lauren Twitty is just 40 kills away from reaching the 1,000 mark for her career. Twitty tallied 50 kills in the opening weekend.
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.
Fellow freshman Alena Moldan started all three matches at the libero position and played in all 13 sets, recording double-digit digs in all three matches. She had a match-high 27 digs against GCU, a match-high 12 against Rutgers and had 17 against Norhern Colorado.
INCLAN CAN DO IT ALL
Inclan, a redshirt-sophomore setter, is averaging 8.77 assists a set after tallying 114 assists in the opening weekend. She also contributed with seven kills, 45 digs, five total blocks (one solo) and two service aces.
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
Three matches in to the season, the Lobos have already played two, 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.
ABOUT THE OPPONENTS
TEXAS A&M- CORPUS CHRISTI
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi enters the tournament beating Houston (three sets) in its opening weekend and losing to UT-Arlington (five sets) and Arizona State (four sets).The Islanders lost to UTRGV (Texas Rio Grande Valley) on Wednesday night in five sets. Madison Green leads the team with 38 kills and has contributed with 136 assists (8.00 assists per set) and is second on the team in digs with 32. Leading the Islanders in digs is Carissa Barnes at 85, an average of 5.0 per set. Sam Dumity and Rachel Young both have five total blocks on the season with Young recording a team-high three solo.The Islanders were picked to finish fifth in the Southland Conference preseason poll while Green was selected to the preseason All-Southland Conference First Team and Julia Carter was named to the second team.
Last season, the Islanders were 0-7 on neutral courts, 7-10 in three sets, 1-4 in four sets and 1-7 in five sets.
SERIES vs. TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI
New Mexico and Texas A&M- Corpus Christi have never met on the court.
PACIFIC
Pacific started the season with two wins against San Jose State and Montana before losing to UC Davis at the Aggie Invitational. Pacific defeated MW school SJSU in its season opener in four sets (26-24, 25-12, 24-26, 25-13). Riley Patterson leads the team in kills (31, 3.10 kills per set), service aces (eight) and points (41.5, 4.15 points per set). Gabby Leo has a team-high 66 assists, while defensively Jadyn Tubbs leads with 48 digs on the season and Kennedy Kaminsky leads in total blocks with 16.0 (four solo). Hanne De Schrijver is hitting .600 with 13 kills on 20 attempts. Pacific was picked to finish sixth in the WCC in the preseason poll while Riley Ramsey was named to the All-WCC Preseason Team after being named to the All-Freshman team in 2018.
SERIES vs. PACIFIC
UNM is 0-7 historically against UOP, 0-3 at neutral sites. The two teams last met Aug. 30, 1997, a 3-0 win for the Tigers in Stockton.
NEW MEXICO STATE
The Aggies opened the season with three straight-set wins over Butler, Auburn and Tennessee State at the War Eagle Invitational. NMSU was led in the tournament by Julianna Salanoa, who recorded 34.5 points on 24 kills, four service aces and 12 blocks (one solo). Savannah Davison and Megan Hart both accounted for 25 kills to lead the team. Halle Razo tallied a team-high five service aces and 26 digs, and Natalie Mikels had 51 assists, an average of 5.67 assists per set. Lia Mosher registered 13.0 total blocks (one solo).New Mexico State was picked as the preseason favorites in the WAC after collecting 60 points and four first-place votes. Davison, Hart and Salanoa were named to the Preseason All-WAC Team. Last season, NMSU went 10-1 at home and made the NCAA Tournament.
SERIES vs. NEW MEXICO STATE
The Lobos are 28-42 overall against the Aggies, 9-19 on the road. UNM’s last win against NMSU was on Oct. 16, 2016 in four sets. The last win in Las Cruces was a five-set win on Sept. 23, 2013. The teams are 3-3 in their last six meetings.
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.