Lobos Sweep St. John’s on Day Two at Lobo Invitational

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – New Mexico Volleyball set the tone early with a blistering first set and didn’t let off the gas pedal on route to a straight-sets win (25-15, 25-19, 25-19) over St. John’s (3-2) on Day Two of the Lobo Invitational Friday night at The Pit.

BY THE NUMBERS

With the win, UNM moves to 4-1 on the season and 2-0 at the Lobo Invitational, having won six of their last seven sets and outscoring opponents 171-140 over their last two games at The Pit.

A day after UNM’s middles provided a much-needed boost to overpower CSU Bakersfield, it was the Lobos’ outsides who pushed them over the top in Friday’s game two. Kaitlynn Biassou (13 kills) and Uxue Guereca (14 kills) both racked up double-digit kills for the second game in a row, with Biassou hitting for a team-high .550 kill percentage and Guereca hitting .429. The duo led UNM in kills in each set.

Melissa Walden notched at least 30 assists for the fifth straight match, adding a kill and seven digs in the process. Angela Crosetti led UNM in digs once again with 13.

SJU finished the game with just two blocks to the Lobos’ 11, the second straight game that UNM has outblocked an opponent while cracking double-digit team blocks.

For the first time this season, three different Lobos served up multiple aces – Biassou, Walden and and Kali Wolf all finished with two apiece. Biassou is now only one away from entering the program’s all-time Top 10 for career aces and 24 away from being in the top two all-time.

SET ONE – LOBOS 25, RED STORM 15

Guereca and Biassou powered UNM’s offense early as the Lobos set the tone in set one, ripping off a 6-1 run to go up 11-5. At that point, the duo had already connected on three kills each, and they combined for four more through the rest of the set as UNM hit .429 en route to a runaway 25-15 first-set win.

SET TWO – LOBOS 25, RED STORM 19

Set two saw more resistance from SJU, with seven ties and three lead changes before UNM took control midway through the set. The Lobos held the Red Storm to a match-low 8 kills on .000 hitting with eight attack errors, only recording four themselves in the process.

After the Red Storm bounced back from their first-set loss with an early run that included a pair of aces to go up 8-4, UNM responded in kind, scoring nine of the next 11 – with a pair of kills each from Biassou and Dimitriadis – to take a 13-10 lead and force a SJU timeout. After the break, a pair of Lobos errors and a kill from the Red Storm tied things up, UNM only allowed six more points the rest of the way, with a service ace from Wolf getting the Lobos to set point before an attack error sealed a 2-0 advantage.

SET THREE – LOBOS 25, RED STORM 19

UNM showed no signs of stopping with a quick 4-0 run to open set three, never trailing again the rest of the way. Biassou and Guereca both added four more kills each and Woods connected on two, with the Lobos converting a match-high 78% on sideouts to keep SJU from rallying. Woods’ two kills supplied two of UNM’s last three points as the Lobos put an exclamation point on their second sweep of the year.

UP NEXT / FOLLOW THE ACTION

The Lobos (4-1) return to action in their Lobo Invitational finale tomorrow afternoon, playing host to Utah Tech (2-3) at 1:30 p.m.