ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— After a heartbreaker on Thursday night at the Johnson Center, the Lobo volleyball team has another opportunity to respond with Colorado State on Saturday.
First serve is set for 1 p.m. and is available to stream on the Mountain West Network with live stats also available. Fans are encouraged to attend in person with $2 tickets for the match and are encouraged to wear cherry.
The Lobos are 10-3 entering the match, 1-2 in the MW after Thursday’s result.
Uxue Guereca recorded her eighth double-double of the season against Wyoming, finishing with a season-high 21 kills and 15 digs, while Melissa Walden had her first double-double of the season on a career-high 52 assists and a team- and season-high 18 digs.
Kaitlynn Biassou tied her career high with 26 kills and added three service aces and four assisted blocks, with Alena Moldan also serving up a career-high three aces and having six assists and 14 digs. For Biassou, it was the fifth match that the senior has finished with 20-plus kills this season with four occurring in the last five matches.
Following Thursday’s match, the Lobos are second in the MW in opponent hitting percentage at .183 and in digs per set (15.45), and third in service aces per set at 1.79 and has 100 on the season.
Moldan leads the MW in digs per set at 4.59 and Biassou is tied for the lead in points per set with 4.70, but has a conference-best 263.0 points. Nationally, Moldan is 34th in the NCAA in total digs (257) and 51st in digs per set, and Biassou is 15th in points, 21st in total kills (223), 32nd in points per set, 37th in service aces (25) and 48th in kills per set (3.98).
Colorado State is 10-4 on the season, 3-0 in conference after beating Wyoming (3-1), UNLV (3-0) and Air Force (3-0). The Rams have non-conference wins over North Carolina (3-1), Arizona State (3-2) and Colorado (3-1).
However, the Rams are 0-2 on the road, 3-2 in three sets, 5-1 in four sets and 1-1 in five sets.
CSU has three players with double-digit kills, led by Kennedy Stanford at 158, followed by Karina Leber at 132 and Annie Sullivan at 121. Ciera Pritchard has accounted for 460 of the team’s 584 assists and is averaging 9.4 per set. Kate Yoshimoto leads with 181 digs and Leber leads with 40 total blocks (three solo, 37 assisted).
Colorado State leads the MW in overall hitting percentage (.276) with Leber leading the conference at .402 percent (132-34-244).
The Rams were picked as the MW preseason favorite with six first-place votes.