Loading

Lobos Stifle Cowgirls for Fourth Straight Win

Lobos Stifle Cowgirls for Fourth Straight WinLobos Stifle Cowgirls for Fourth Straight Win

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – New Mexico Volleyball continued its torrid stretch in its return to the Johnson Center on Thursday, fending off Wyoming (13-5, 2-5 MW) in four sets (25-18, 24-26, 29-27, 25-17) for the Lobos’ fourth-straight win.

The Lobos (13-5, 5-2 MW) have now defeated four consecutive Top-150 RPI opponents after serving up a season-high 10 aces in the win, getting double-doubles from Kaitlynn Biassou (15 kills, 15 digs) and Uxue Guereca (14 kills, 12 digs) as well as a dominant night on both sides of the ball from Athina Dimitriadis (9 kills, 7 TB) in the process.

After rolling to a 25-18 win in the first set thanks to 14 kills on .297 hitting, the Cowgirls threatened to become the first team to wrest momentum away from the Lobos in their last four matches, holding them to 0.050 hitting in the second to tie things up and battling through six set points in the third before the Lobos could pull away. Set Four was all Lobos, with UNM hitting a match-high .345 and ripping off a 9-0 run — the Lobos’ longest run of the night — to take control late.

UNM is riding the longest win streak in the Mountain West, moving into sole possession of third place in the conference standings – the Lobos sit a game behind Utah State (13-5, 6-1) and half a game behind Boise State (10-8, 6-2).

BY THE NUMBERS
Behind Biassou’s seventh double-double of the season and Guereca’s ninth, Kali Wolf provided a spark with nine kills and a career-high four aces to lead UNM’s big night at the service line, with Biassou and Dimitriadis both adding two aces each and Melissa Walden adding another.
Walden produced 38 assists to go with six digs and four blocks – the most assists in a four-set match in her career – and Madeleine Miller added three more assists off the bench. Giselle Groe matched Biassou’s team-high 15 digs and added two more assists in the process.
The Lobos actually recorded three fewer kills (52) and digs (59) than the Cowgirls (55 kills, 61 digs) and both teams finished with the same number of team blocks (12), but the Lobos hit .214 on the match while holding Wyoming to .133 hitting. They’re the 17th team UNM has held below .200 this season, and 15th in a row — the Cowgirls never hit above .200 in a set and hit below .100 in sets two and four.
Guereca connected on 10 of her kills in the first and fourth sets, finishing with five in each. Biassou racked up 11 of her 15 kills over the final two sets, hitting .375 over that span.

ALL-TIME SERIES
UNM has now won three of the last four against the Cowgirls, but trail the all-time series 37-52. UNM has taken at least one match against Wyoming in each of the last three seasons, but prior to that hadn’t beaten the Cowgirls since 2017. The Lobos are 22-23 against UW at home.
Under Jon Newman-Gonchar, UNM is 3-5 against Wyoming and 2-2 at home.

UP NEXT / FOLLOW THE ACTION
The Lobos homestand continues on Saturday against Colorado State at 1 p.m. (MT) at the Johnson Center. Saturday’s action will be streamed free on YouTube, with live stats available via golobos.com/vbstats. Follow @UNMLoboVB on socials for scores, highlights, gameday content and more.