ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.— The Lobo volleyball team closes out the road portion of the Mountain West schedule this week, starting with Colorado State on Thursday night.
First serve is set for 7 p.m. MT on the Mountain West Network with live stats available.
The Lobos currently trail San Diego State by one match for eighth, one game behind Wyoming, Boise State and Nevada at 6-8. Nevada and Boise State play each other this week, with Boise State also playing San José State and Nevada playing Utah State. UNM will host both Boise State and Utah State next week to close the MW schedule.
Last week, UNM went 0-2 with a loss in five sets at Air Force and a loss in three sets at UNLV.
Kaitlynn Biassou (21 kills) and Uxue Guereca (22 kills) led the Lobo offense with Avital Jaloba leading at the net with 10 total blocks (two solo, eight assisted). Guereca added another double-double to her season total with 19 kills and 18 digs against Air Force.
Alena Moldan and Biassou are climbing the record book each week, with Moldan currently sitting at 1,441 career digs with Biassou at 1,439 points. Biassou joined the top-10 career list in the match at Nevada, and is currently is sixth and 27 points away from fifth. She is fifth all-time in career kills at 1,240 and 22 away from fourth. Moldan is now fifth all-time in career digs in program history and 63 away from fourth.
Colorado State enters the week 10-4 in the conference and 17-8 on the season, although the Rams have lost their last two matches to Nevada (in three) and San José State (in four). CSU is currently third in the MW standings.
The Rams are 6-3 in three sets, 9-3 in four sets and 202 in five sets, and are 10-4 at home this season, 5-2 at home against MW opponents.
Statistically, CSU leads the MW in hitting percentage in conference matches at .271 and is fourth in kills per set (13.13) and assists per set (12.11). Naeemah Weathers leads all players with a .429 hitting percentage (98-23-175) and Ciera Pritchard is second in assists per set (10.57).
Kennedy Stanford has a team-high 299 kills on the season wtih Annie Sullivan and Karina Leber each at over 200 kills at 222 and 209, respectively. Pritchard has 883 assists on the season and leads with 28 service aces. Kate Yoshimoto has a team-high 291 digs and Leber leads with 85 total blocks (five solo, 80 assisted).
Following Thursday’s match, UNM travels to Wyoming for a match with the Cowgirls on Saturday at 1 p.m. MT.