Lobos Fall in Four to Rams
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The New Mexico volleyball team was in every set of Saturday’s match against Colorado State, but fell in four (23-25, 24-26, 25-19, 25-18).
Melissa Walden completed her second double-double of the week with 39 assists and 13 digs, as did Uxue Guereca with 11 kills and 12 digs. For Guereca, Saturday was her ninth double-double of the season.
Kaitlynn Biassou recorded a match-high 16 kills, keeping her streak alive of recording double-digit kills in every match this season, and Alena Moldan led with a match-high 20 digs. It is the seventh time this season that Moldan has finished with 20 or more digs.
As a team, the Lobos had 13.0 total blocks, with Avital Jaloba registering a match-high eight assisted blocks, tying her career high, Lea Zurlinden finishing with five assisted, Walden with four and Guereca and Biassou with three each.
The Lobos (10-4, 1-3 MW) held an early lead in the first set, getting out to a 4-2 lead on a Moldan ace and a Biassou kill, before the Rams tied the set at five and after a tie at seven gained some separation at 13-7. After the Lobo deficit reached eight at 18-10 and trailed seven at 21-14, the Lobos went on a run to cut the margin to three at 23-20 on a Biassou and Zurlinden block. CSU reached set point on the following play, to which back-to-back Biassou kills and a Moldan service ace kept the set going and brought the Lobos within one. However, out of a Ram timeout, a CSU kill ended the set at 25-23.
Biassou opened the match with seven kills in the first set, hitting .538, with Moldan producing two service aces.
The second set started the same way as the first, with the Lobos taking the early 4-2 lead and the Rams answering to tie it before going ahead at 14-9. The Lobos narrowed the gap on a Guereca kill, a Zurlinden and Biassou block, a Zurlinden kill and a Walden service ace to pull within one at 14-13. A ball handling error by CSU tied the set at 15, however the Rams used another run to go up 19-15.
Trailing 22-18 late in the second set, the Lobos won the next four points on two Walden and Jaloba blocks, a Jaloba and Guereca block and a Ram attack error to tie the set at 22, and had another combined block courtesy of Walden and Jaloba to create another tie at 23. A kill for Guereca gave UNM set point at 24-23, but CSU took the next three points to win 26-24.
The Lobos finished with 6.0 total team blocks in the second set with Jaloba accounting for four assisted, Walden three, Guereca and Zurlinden two and Biassou one.
There was just one tie at one-all before the Lobos took control of the third set, getting out to a 10-3 lead behind a 5-0 run. UNM’s lead expanded to nine at 18-9 on a Guereca and Jaloba block, and alternated between nine and eight until CSU closed within six at 23-17. A Jaloba kill gave UNM set point at 24-18 and an attack error by Colorado State extended the match with a 25-19 Lobo win.
UNM again outblocked CSU in the third set (3.0-1.0), with Zurlinden accounting for two and Jaloba, Biassou, Lauryn Payne and Guereca each having one. The Lobos also outhit CSU .310-.189 in the set with Biassou finishing with four and Jaloba and Guereca three each.
CSU got out to an early 5-1 lead in the fourth set, with the Lobos responding to close within one at 6-5, 7-6, 9-8 and 10-9, but couldn’t find the tallying point. The Rams led 15-13 at the media break with the Lobos holding close until eventually tying the set at 17 on a kill by Guereca. The Rams won the next three points to build a 20-17 lead and closed with five of the final six points to win 25-18.
The Lobos remain at home for their next two matches, hosting Air Force on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and UNLV on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for both matches are available at golobos.com/tickets.