Lobos Fall to Cowgirls in Friday Match
LARAMIE, Wyo.— The University of New Mexico volleyball team dropped its first match of the season on Friday night to the Wyoming Cowgirls, as the home team got the 25-12, 25-16, 25-6 win.
The Lobos struggled for most of the match, with the Cowgirls holding MW Offensive Player of the Week Kali Wolf to just one kill on two attacks, and finished the contest with 15 kills and a -.075 hitting percentage as a team.
Junior middle blocker Avital Jaloba led UNM with five kills, followed by freshman middle blocker Emma Smith, who made her first start in her first collegiate appearance and finished with four kills and a .444 hitting percentage.
Freshman setter Kara Erfurth accounted for 12 of the team’s 13 assists and sophomore libero Alena Moldan led the team with 13 digs, the only Lobo to reach double figures in the category.
With MW Defensive Player of the Week Uxue Guereca out of the lineup, the Lobos were missing an added offensive and defensive option, but the Lobos did use some new players in the rotation as three players made their first appearances in Smith, Hayley Torres and Tori Tua.
The match started out with two ties in the first 10 points as each time Wyoming would go up by two, the Lobos responded to create ties at two and four. The Lobos answered back from down 8-5 to tie the set at eight before Wyoming went on a 5-0 run to lead 13-8. A Cowgirl attack error ended the run, but attack errors were the trend for three of the next five points as Wyoming’s lead extended to seven at 17-10. UNM would get just two more points in the set on a Kaitlynn Biassou kill that made it 17-11 and a Wyoming service error on set point as Wyoming won the first set 25-12.
Wyoming opened up with the first three points of the second set and the Lobos would again hang close within the first 10 points. After the Cowgirls pulled ahead 11-8, the Lobos closed to get within one at 12-11 and again at 13-12, ultimately tying the set at 13 on a Biassou kill, before UW pushed back ahead 17-14. Wyoming continued to build its lead late in the set to win 25-16.
Momentum continued for the Cowgirls as Wyoming got out to a quick start, scoring the first nine points of the final set before Smith put the Lobos on the board with a kill. However, after a service error by UW made it 14-6, the Cowgirls scored the next 11 points to take the set and the match.
The Lobos (2-1 MW) close out their series with the Cowgirls (3-0 MW) on Saturday at 11 a.m. on the Mountain West Network.
POSTMATCH NOTES
- The Lobos had several players making their first appearances as Lobos on Friday in Hayley Torres, Tori Tua and Emma Smith.
- Smith made her first collegiate start, finishing with four kills and hitting .444
- Tua recorded her first collegiate kill in the second set that made it 5-3 Wyoming.