Lobos Fall In Four to Montana

GRAND FORKS, N.D. – New Mexico Volleyball tied things up in the second set of its matchup with Montana at the UND Classic Friday afternoon, but 14 kills from the Griz (3-5) proved too much as the Lobos (5-3) fell in four (21-25, 25-21, 22-25, 20-25).

BY THE NUMBERS
Less than 24 hours after posting a double-double to lead UNM’s rally against North Dakota in the tournament opener, Uxue Guereca paced the Lobos’ offense again in round two with another – 18 kills and 11 digs. Athina Dimitriadis supplemented Guerecas efforts with 10 kills of her own, adding 6 blocks, 5 digs and an ace in the process. Kaitlynn Biassou connected on seven kills and Kali Wolf added four to round out UNM’s offense, with Wolf adding 10 digs and 5 blocks.

Angela Crosetti led the Lobos in digs with 21 – her fourth game so far this season with at least 20. As they did in game one, Melissa Walden and Madeleine Miller split time at setter, combining for 30 assists with Walden serving up an ace.

SET ONE – LOBOS  21, GRIZ 25
Four service aces from the Griz in the opening frame hampered UNM’s attempts to set the tone early, even as they rallied from down 15-7 to close the gap late after a kill from Guereca made it 23-21.

SET TWO – LOBOS 25, GRIZ 20
Just as they did in last night’s opener, the Lobos leaned on a big run in the second set to take control of the match. After falling down 9-4 and calling timeout, UNM put together a 10-2 run that included 3 kills from Dimitriadis and one each from Guereca and Wolf to go up by 3 and force the Griz into a timeout of their own. After the break, UNM kept rolling, going up 21-15 on Biassou’s fifth kill before a 3-0 UNM swing that saw a pair of bad sets to tighten things up late. Nonetheless, the Lobos responded with two more kills from Dimitriadis and Guereca to keep the margin comfortable, eventually winning the set on Guereca’s sixth kill of the day.

The Lobos swung for a match-high 15 kills in Set Two, more than doubling their output from the opening set.

SET THREE – LOBOS 22, GRIZ 25
It didn’t take long for the Lobos to assert themselves in a momentum-swinging third, going up 6-4 on back-to-back kills from Matthews and Wolf and extending the lead to 13-9 on a solo block from Matthews. The Griz tied things up thanks to Ellie Scherffius, who came up with a pair of big blocks on Dimitriadis and a kill to force a UNM timeout, eventually going up 19-16 after two more service aces. Three consecutive Griz errors tied things up at 20-all and back-to-back kills from Guereca put the Lobos up 22-21, but UM scored four straight – including two more aces – to take the set late.

SET FOUR – LOBOS 22, GRIZ 25
A 7-3 start to the set from UNM in a do-or-die fourth set became more tricky after a 6-0 Griz run that included two more aces put UM ahead 14-11. But the Lobos hung around, never trailing by more than three and coming out of a timeout swinging. Wolf connected on her fourth kill of the day and Walden followed with a service ace to get the Lobos back within one, but they didn’t retake the lead until after a second timeout. With their backs to the wall down 21-17, Guereca provided some late heroics yet again with two more kills to get back within 3, but the Griz served up their 14th service ace of the day to end the set and match.

UP NEXT / FOLLOW THE ACTION
UNM’s tournament finale against Green Bay (2-5) Saturday is set for a 9 a.m. MT start. Follow live stats at GoLobos.com/VBStats.