Lobos at Fresno State Saturday After Clinching MW Tournament Spot
FRESNO, Calif. — Not done yet.
The Lobo volleyball team has one final regular season match on Saturday against Fresno State, but as a result of their win against Air Force on Tuesday and Boise State’s win over Wyoming on Thursday night, New Mexico’s season will continue at the Mountain West Conference Tournament as they’ve clinched one of the six spots in the tournament.
The tournament is scheduled to begin on Wednesday, Nov. 24, but first, the Lobos are preparing for the Bulldogs with first serve scheduled for 1 p.m. PT/ 2 p.m. MT. The match will be streamed on the MW Network with live stats also available.
UNM is coming off of a five-set win over Air Force on Tuesday night, while Fresno State defeated Air Force on Thursday night.
The Bulldogs are 12-13 on the season, 8-9 in the Mountain West. In addition, they are 8-3 at home this season, 5-7 in three sets, 4-4 in four sets, and 3-2 in five sets. The Bulldogs are led offensively by Desiree Sukhov’s 251 kills, an average of 2.79 per set, and 38 service aces, but is hitting .151. Sukhov also leads the team with 202 digs (2.24 per set). Mikayla Weiss has accounted for 57.3 percent of the team assists with 560, averaging 6.36 per set. Grace Doyle has recorded a team-best 91.0 total blocks, 18 solo and 73 assisted. Sukhov is third in the MW in service aces per set at 0.42.
In the first meeting, UNM held the advantage in kills (41-30), assists (33-29), digs (47-40), service aces (4-2) and blocks (8.0-7.0), while hitting .257 and holding the Bulldogs to just .067. Melissa Walden had an all-around solid performance with another double-double, her eighth of the season, that included a match-high 28 assists, 10 digs, four kills, one service ace and one block. Kaitlynn Biassou again led the way with a match-high 12 kills, finishing just one dig shy of a double-double, and her outside hitting counterpart Uxue Guereca had nine kills and 10 digs, tying Walden for the team high. Guereca also had three service aces in the match. Blocking was rampant in the match, with Emma Smith leading with one solo and four assisted, as the Lobos finished with three solo and 10 assisted, with Guereca and Kali Wolf also recording an assisted block.
For the Lobos, New Mexico is 19-9, 10-7 in the Mountain West and have won the last two matches. A couple of Lobos have some milestones on the horizon, with Alena Moldan at 982 career digs and Biassou at 972.5 career points. Biassou is having her best season as a Lobo with 360 kills, .251 hitting percentage, 156 digs, 33 service aces, 423.0 points, and counting. She will break into the top 10 in program history in single-season kills in the 25-point rally era with 362 kills and can possibly move up to ninth at 373.She is already in the top 10 in single-season points at 423 with ninth at 435. Moldan is already in the top 10 in program history in single-season digs in the 25-point rally era with 396 with ninth at 422. Walden is in the top 10 in single-season assists in program history in the 25-point rally era with 691 assists with one away from ninth, two from eighth.