UNM Caps Opening Day with Sweep of Titans
FULLERTON, Calif. – Make that two sweeps on the day.
After a hard-fought battle with Cal State Fullerton in the opening set, in which The University of New Mexico pulled out the 25-23 win, the Lobos dominated in sets two and three to win 25-9 and 25-11, respectively, to defeat the Titans in straight sets.
“Exciting start for the Lobos,” head coach Jon Newman-Gonchar commented after the match. “We are leaning on our competitive depth and our team connection in a major way. We have a team committed to one another and to do anything necessary to see the team find success.
“Our ability to control our controllables is what is sticking out so far. The team is poised and executing at a very high level and I’m excited to watch us continue to learn and grow.”
Once again, Kaitlynn Biassou took over the match with a match-high 15 kills to go along with her 14 kills earlier in the day against Fordham, and nearly had a double-double with nine digs. The outside hitter matched her service ace total from the Fordham match as well with two and added two assists and two assisted blocks.
Setter Melissa Walden recorded her second double-double on the day with a match-high 30 assists and 12 digs, as well as added five kills, with her 30 assists more than the entire Titan team total. Libero Alena Moldan again led in digs with a match-high 23 and matched Biassou with two aces.
Uxue Guereca proved to be the perfect compliment to Biassou in the Lobo attack with nine kills, five assists, and a match- and career-high four service aces. Guereca also contributed five digs and two assisted blocks. Sophomore Kali Wolf added seven kills on a .538 hitting clip and Avital Jaloba led with a match-high three assisted blocks.
Once again, the Lobos stifled their opponent, limiting Cal State Fullerton to just a .036 attack percentage in the match, while hitting .297 on 43 kills and only 10 attack errors on 111 attempts. Both teams finished with 111 attempts.
Beyond the 43 kills, the Lobos also recorded nine service aces in the evening match with four Lobos recording at least one in Biassou, Moldan, Guereca and Hayley Torres.
The first set was an all-out battle with 19 ties and 11 lead changes, but the Lobos found a way to prevail with the 25-23 set win.
There was an exchange of points through the first 26 points before the Titans pulled ahead 15-13. However, the Lobos got the two points back on a Biassou kill and a Torres ace and took the lead on the next point off of a CSUF attack error. Cal State Fullerton regained the lead at 18-16 and got as much separation as 20-17.
A service error, Kassie McGill kill and Guereca kill tied the set back up at 20 and Biassou gave the Lobos the lead once more on a service ace to lead to a Fullerton timeout. A block by Guereca and Elizabeth Woods provided the final tie at 23 before Walden recorded consecutive kills to clinch the set for the Lobos.
Walden led the Lobos with five kills in the first set while added five assists and four digs.
UNM went wire-to-wire in the second set, getting out to an early 7-1 lead to force an early Titan timeout. The lead extended to 9-1 on a Moldan ace, the second in the set for the libero, ultimately reaching double digits at 16-6 on a Guereca kill.
Guereca was the catalyst for the Lobos late in the set, with two service aces including the ace that forced set point at 24-8. The Titans got one more kill in before Biassou ended the set with another kill.
The third set was controlled by the Cherry and Silver early on after the Lobos got out to a 4-0 lead. While the Titans fought back to tie the set at eight, the Lobos pulled back ahead 11-8 behind three-straight attack errors by Cal State Fullerton.
UNM went on a 10-0 run that pushed the score from 14-10 to set point, with a Jaloba kill, two Guereca aces, two kills from Wolf and three from Biassou. A service error delayed the match win momentarily as Wolf tallied a kill for the 25-11 win.
Biassou was a perfect 5-for-5 in the third set in attacks and Wolf hit .667 with four kills on six swings to aid the Lobo win. As a team, UNM hit a match-best .435 with 12 kills and just two errors on 23 attempts.
On the other side of the net, the Titans hit -.200 with just four kills and one ace.
UNM (2-0) closes out the Titan Classic with a final match against UC Riverside on Saturday at 2 p.m. MT.