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UNM Continues Winning Ways, Takes Down Colorado State in Four Sets

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The New Mexico Lobos made a statement on Saturday afternoon at the Johnson Center, earning their second win of the week with a four-set victory over conference-leader Colorado State, 25-16, 25-22, 22-25, 25-14.

UNM’s win snapped CSU’s seven-match win streak, with five of the wins occurring in straight sets, and was the first win at home against the Rams since Sept. 20, 2012 and the first win overall against the Rams since Nov. 17, 2018.

Saturday’s win also extends UNM’s win streak to three matches, dropping just one set in the last three matches.

“I really couldn’t be prouder of our program and how far we’ve come in the culmination of what happened today,” stated head coach Jon Newman-Gonchar. “This team showed incredible resilience and they showed incredible grit to face down two opponents that just 10 days earlier swept us. To come out with a sweep over Wyoming and a really tough four-set battle over Colorado State showed how far this team has come in 10 days.”

Uxue Guereca and Kaitlynn Biassou led the Lobo attacking with 14 and 13 kills, respectively, with Guereca recording her sixth double-double of the season with 11 digs. Elizabeth Woods was a force at the net with eight kills, hitting .471 with no errors on 17 attacks, and added a solo block and five assisted blocks for a match-high six total blocks. Avital Jaloba was closely behind with five total blocks (all assisted).

Melissa Walden was close to a double-double with a team-high 25 assists to go with eight digs and two kills (2-0-2) and Alena Moldan tied the match high in digs with 17.

As a team, UNM outhit CSU .250 to .161 and held the advantage in every statistical category: kills (49-48), assists (46-43), blocks (11.0-5.0), digs (62-46) and service aces (2-1).

UNM came out strong from the start, leading the first set from first point to final point in the 25-16 win. The Lobos set the tone, scoring the first three points of the set on kills by Jaloba and Guereca followed by a bad set by the Rams. While CSU scored on the next point, the Lobos held momentum with a 4-0 run with Guereca kills bookending the run, and caused an early CSU timeout at 7-1. The Rams closed within five at 10-5 and again at 12-7, but the Lobos kept their distance, stretching the lead to seven at 18-11 on a Woods and Kassie McGill block. A 3-0 run pushed the Lobos past the 20-point mark in the set at 22-13, and consecutive Biassou kills pushed UNM to set point and to the set win.

Guereca led with four kills in the opening set, while as a team New Mexico outhit Colorado State .444 (14-2-27) to .172 (11-6-29) behind a set-high 14 kills.

New Mexico opened the second set winning the first two points, but the Rams answered with a 6-0 run to take their first lead of the match. The Rams led by five at 8-3 before the Lobos went on a run of their own to close the margin and ultimately tie the set at 10. Following another tie at 11, a Jaloba and McGill block and a Chloe Clark service ace pushed the Lobos back in front for good. A 3-0 run that included two Biassou kills and Ram attack error expanded the Lobo lead to five at 18-13, and while CSU closed within three at 19-16 and two at 23-21 and 24-22, UNM prevailed with a Jaloba kill and a service error for the 25-22 set win and the 2-0 match lead.

Guereca finished with four more kills in the set, hitting .667 (4-0-6), while Biassou also had four kills in the set. UNM again outhit CSU, this time .357 to .175 with 13 team kills. Defensively, Moldan added seven digs, almost matching CSU’s team total of eight.

The third set was the closest set of the match with 15 ties and seven lead changes, with the Rams scoring the final three points of the set in the 25-22 result to extend the match.

UNM responded in the fourth set, turning a 5-3 deficit into a 7-5 lead with kills by Walden and Guereca and two Ram attack errors. A Kali Wolf kill and bad set by CSU put the Lobos ahead 11-7, and a 4-0 Lobo run with Wolf at the service line that included a Wolf ace extended the lead to seven at 16-9. Another run, this time 3-0, pushed the lead to nine at 19-10, with lead ultimately reaching 11 on 4-0 run capped by a Woods kill to give New Mexico match point at 24-13. The Rams fought it off once before Woods closed the match on another kill for the 25-14 set win and the Lobo win.

It was just the second time this season that CSU has been held to 14 points in a set of a MW match, with the other instance being against Fresno State.

Biassou led with four kills in the final set, hitting .571 (4-0-7), while Guereca hit .600 with three kills on five attacks with zero errors.

UNM improves to 17-6 overall, 8-4 in the Mountain West. Up next, the Lobos travel to Boise State and Utah State for matches on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.