Lobos Roll Howard in Four, Improve to 2-0 in Houston

HOUSTON, Texas – New Mexico Volleyball improved to 2-0 at the Howard-Gerwig Memorial Tournament with another resilient win on Friday, dispatching Howard in four sets (25-22, 26-24, 23-25, 25-15) in neutral-site action at Houston Christian’s Sharp Gym.

Trailing by two late in both of the first two sets before turning the tables and taking both with explosive rallies coming out of timeouts, UNM put away the Bison (3-2) for good with their longest heater of the season in the fourth, outscoring them 14-3 after falling behind 12-11 and ending the match with nine unanswered points.

NEVER. BACK. DOWN. 😤

Way to fight, Lobos! pic.twitter.com/URUTvpFUGQ

— New Mexico Volleyball (@UNMLoboVB) September 6, 2024

The Lobos improve to 4-1 on the season, making it four straight seasons in which they win at least four of their first five matches dating back to the Fall 2021 season. They’ll be looking to go 3-0 on the weekend heading into their tournament finale against host Houston Christian tomorrow at 12 p.m. MT.

“A great team win — the Lobos had to be great in crunch time and we learned that we can battle deep into sets and find solutions to come out with a win,” said UNM Head Coach Jon Newman-Gonchar. “Hats off to a powerful Howard team — they threw everything they could at us and pushed us to the limit.

“Excited to see us close out the tournament with a very scrappy HCU team tomorrow!”

BY THE NUMBERS

• Lauryn Payne led three Lobos that surpassed double-digit kills with 12, with Kialah Jefferson and Jada Bouyer each adding 11 each. Jefferson produced eight kills in the first two sets, scoring the last three points on three consecutive kills in the second as UNM sealed a 2-0 advantage it wouldn’t relinquish, while Bouyer finished the match with .360 hitting and only two errors on the match.
• Elizabeth Woods finished just shy of double-digits with nine kills on .316 hitting to go with a team-high four total blocks and her team-leading fifth service ace of the season – Jefferson (2.5 TB), Payne (2.5 TB) and Bouyer (2 TB) all finished with multiple blocks in the winning effort.
• Reagan Miller put away both of her kills in the first set and finished with one solo block and one block assist, while Naomi Chankoumi produced all four of hers on just seven attempts in sets two and three (.429%).
• Falanika Danielson led the team in digs (15) – her third match this season with double-digits – and produced five assists while Giselle Groe added nine digs and one assist. The duo combined for only one service receiving error apiece on 37 targets (.948).
• Madeleine Miller (28 assists, 11 digs) recorded her third double-double of the season while serving up a pair of aces to lead the team for the second match in a row while Sohila Wafeek (12) also finished with double-digit assists and a service ace of her own at match point in set one.
• UNM more than doubled up on Howard with 13 team blocks to the Bison’s six, with five of them coming in the final set as the Lobos raced to their largest margin of victory this season. They also outdug the Bison 61-48.

ALL-TIME SERIES
UNM improves to 2-1 against Howard all-time in their first neutral-site matchup and first meeting since 2018. In their previous two matches, the Lobos lost in five sets at home in 2016 before returning the favor with a five-set road victory of their own in 2018.

THE ACTION
For the second match in a row, UNM turned the tables coming out of late timeouts called by Head Coach Jon Newman-Gonchar to take control in the first two sets – the Lobos called time down 22-20 in the first and 23-21 in the second and ripped off a run immediately after both, scoring five in a row in the first and four of the next five in the second.

SET ONE – NEW MEXICO 25, HOWARD 22
The Lobos trailed for much of the opening set but never fell behind by more than four, putting together a 5-0 run – capped off by Bouyer’s fourth kill – that gave them their first lead of the day at 18-17. After two more ties at 19- and 20-all, a Howard kill and UNM attack error in succession made it 22-20 to cue a New Mexico timeout. Coming out of the break, the Lobos ripped off five straight points – three of which on blocks – with Sohila Wafeek serving up an ace to end things at 25-22.

UNM hit a match-high .346, totaling 13 kills thanks to 4 from Jada Bouyer, 3 from Elizabeth Woods and 2 apiece from Reagan Miller and Kialah Jefferson.

SET TWO – NEW MEXICO 26, HOWARD 24
They had to play from behind again in the second after Howard jumped out to a 4-0 lead, this time trailing by as much as six until Kialah Jefferson ignited a 7-1 run with two kills and a service ace that tied things up at 19-all. The Bison scored four of the next six in response to cue another late UNM timeout with the Lobos trailing 23-21, but they returned to the court with a different energy once more. UNM scored five of the next six, with Jefferson connecting on back-to-back kills – the Lobos’ 16th, 17th and 18th of the set – to finish them off emphatically.

Jefferson finished with six kills in the second set alone, with Payne adding five and Bouyer supplying three. The Lobos’ 18 kills on .311 hitting in the second are the most in a single set so far this season.

SET THREE – NEW MEXICO 23, HOWARD 25
The Bison held UNM to .212 hitting in the third while posting their highest average of the day (.323) — the Lobos were outblocked 4-1 and committed a match-high seven attacking errors that hindered their inroads on Howard’s early lead, even behind a spirited showing from Naomi Chankoumi late in the set. The junior outside put away two kills for UNM’s final two points to get the Lobos back within one at 24-23 before Howard called timeout and took their first set with a kill on the next point.

Elizabeth Woods led the way with four kills and UNM’s only block of the set, with Payne and Jefferson adding three each and Bouyer and Chankoumi two more each.

SET FOUR – NEW MEXICO 25, HOWARD 15
With 11 ties and six lead changes up until a Howard kill tied things at 13-all, the fourth set looked to be just as tight as the previous three. But the Lobos saved their biggest rally for last, outscoring the Bison 12-2 the rest of the way for their biggest margin of victory in a set so far this season. The Lobos came away with a match-high five total blocks to close things out despite only seven kills on .190 hitting, with Payne producing three more kills in that span to reach 12 on the day.

UP NEXT
Tomorrow’s tournament finale against Houston Christian (2-3) is set to get underway at 12 p.m. MT. This weekend’s action won’t be broadcast, but fans can follow live stats along with other matchday info at GoLobos.com/FollowVB. Follow @UNMLoboVB on socials for match coverage, promotional information, updates, behind-the-scenes content and more.