Lobos Conclude Non-Conference by Defeating Lumberjacks
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— Playing in the Johnson Center for the first time since Nov. 19, 2019, The University of New Mexico took care of home-court advantage in the four-set win (25-12, 25-21, 18-25, 25-17) over Northern Arizona, getting the upper edge behind 14 kills by Kaitlynn Biassou and 11 from Uxue Guereca.
UNM concludes non-conference play 9-2, the best non-conference record since 2013, when the Lobos went 10-1.
Melissa Walden added her seventh double-double of the season with a match-high 31 assists and 10 digs, and defensively, Alena Moldan led with a team-high 16 digs and Elizabeth Woods led with a solo block and four assisted.
The Lobos looked like their typical selves on Saturday, just two days after dropping a four-set decision to the Lumberjacks in Flagstaff, hitting .277 and leading in kills (51-43), assists (45-35), digs (53-44) and serving up a season-best 10 aces.
Biassou recorded a career-best five service aces in the match, including three consecutive late in the first set that pushed the Lobo lead from 21-11 to 23-11 and four in the first set alone. Biassou was one of five Lobos to finish with an ace, joined by two consecutive from Kali Wolf in the early stages of the match and one apiece from Walden, Guereca and Hayley Torres.
UNM jumped out to an early lead with the first five points of the match on a NAU service error and attack error, consecutive Wolf service aces and a NAU ball handling error. The Lumberjacks pulled back within thee at 6-3 before a Biassou kill started a 3-0 run that included a Biassou ace and Woods kill. A 6-0 Lobo scoring run pushed the lead to 10 at 15-4, capped by two Wolf kills, and the Lobos closed with a 5-0 run that pushed the Lobos to set point at 24-11. A final kill by Guereca provided the final point in the 25-12 set in which New Mexico never trailed.
The Lobos came out firing in all areas, as Wolf and Woods opened the match both hitting 1.000 with three and two kills, respectively, and the Lobos had seven aces in the opening set while hitting .350 as a team.
Northern Arizona took the early lead in the second with the first three points, but the Lobos answered with the next six points to take control, to which they never relinquished. The Lumberjacks did close to 6-5, however again the Lobos responded to win the next three points on two Guereca kills and a Woods and Biassou block. From there, NAU got as close as two at 12-10 and made a late push to close within three at 20-17 before the Lobos closed the set with a Biassou kill from the four-point set win at 25-21.
Guereca led with five kills in the second set with Avital Jaloba hitting .400 (3-1-5).
Much like Thursday’s match, the team down 2-0 in the match won the third set to extend the match in almost similar fashion of 25-18. A late Lobo rally closed the margin to within two at 20-18 but the Lobos couldn’t complete the comeback as NAU took the next five points of the set.
UNM got out to another early lead, scoring the first three points of the fourth set on a Lumberjack attack error and kills by Jaloba and Wolf. NAU tied the set at five, with another tie occurring at seven-all before UNM scored four consecutive points to go ahead 11-7 that was capped by a Woods and Walden blocks. A solo Woods block extended the lead to five at 13-8 and a 5-0 run pushed the lead further to eight at 19-11. A Wolf kill gave UNM match point at 24-17 and Kassie McGill closed the match with a final kill, both on Alia Rasmussen assists.
Walden closed the match with a kill, eight assists, a service ace, four digs and an assisted block in the fourth set.
UNM (9-2) concluded its non-conference schedule with Saturday’s win and opens Mountain West competition on Tuesday, Sept. 21 at home against Air Force. First serve is set for 6 p.m. MT.
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