Lobos' Season Ends in Vegas

LAS VEGAS, Nev. – New Mexico Volleyball’s MW Tournament run ended one match shy of the championship Saturday, as the Lobos fell in straight sets (18-25, 18-25, 27-29) to No. 2-seeded Colorado State Thursday at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas.

UNM held early leads in the first two sets, but the Rams surged midway through each to take both by the same score of 18-25. The Lobos battled through three set points in the third after tying things up late, but ultimately fell 27-29 to seal the match.

The Lobos complete their season with a 19-12 record overall and 10-8 mark in conference play. They finished tied for fourth place in conference — their best standings finish since 2015 — and advanced to the MW Semifinals for the first time since 1999 after a five-set win over UNLV — their first MW Tournament win since 2006 — on Wednesday. UNM also swept Boise State in the regular-season series for the first time since 2014 and defeated SDSU and UNLV on the road in the same week for the first time since 2008, while leading the conference in oppneint hitting average (.180) and digs per set (15.58).

BY THE NUMBERS
In their final match in a Lobo uniform, Uxue Guereca (11 kills) and Kaitlynn Biassou (10 kills) both posted double-digit kills to lead the UNM offense, with Athina Dimitriadis adding seven to lead four other Lobos with multiple kills. Biassou recorded a team-high 11 digs for her ninth double-double this season.

Giselle Groe posted the second-most digs (8) on the team and was one of four Lobos to serve up an ace along with Dimitriadis, Kali Wolf and Kynzie Lilly.

Melissa Walden produced 23 assists, with Madeleine Miller contributing eight more off the bench.

UNM committed one less attack error than CSU and four less service errors, but was held to 38 kills on .222 hitting as the Rams hit .378 in the winning effort.