Lobos Outlast Air Force in Five on the Road
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. โ New Mexico Volleyball put together yet another resilient effort to dispatch Air Force (2-12, 1-2 MW) in five sets (25-23, 24-26, 25-23, 23-25,15-13) in a back-and-forth midweek match at Cadet East Gym on Saturday.
Lauryn Payne matched her previous career-high she set on Saturday against San Diego State with 23 kills to lead the Lobos for the sixth straight match while hitting at a team-high .302. Kialah Jefferson poured in 22 more while picking up 14 digs for her sixth double-double of the season, as did Madeleine Miller, who surpassed the 50-assist mark for the first time in her career with 54 in total while recording her eighth double-double of the season with 12 digs.
โThrilled to have gone on the road and come back with a win,” said UNM Head Coach Jon Newman-Gonchar post-match. “A MWC win on the road is a great way to start the week. Hats off to a great AFA team — they fought to the very end.
“Excited for the team to pull out such a gritty exciting win and now onto a powerful Boise State squad on Saturday!โ
Elizabeth Woods added nine more kills to go with a solo block and a block assist, with Jada Bouyer teaming up on a team-high four block assists while connecting on seven kills. Liepa Lavickyte supplied four more to go with another solo block and two block assists.
Falanika Danielson helped the Lobos outdig the Falcons 94-80 with a season-high 27 digs — her fifth time surpassing 20 digs this season — with Madison Blanco (13 digs) and Giselle Groe (12) also both cracking double-digits. Blanco served up UNM’s lone service ace of the match, with both her and Groe producing an assist each.
Back-to-back 5โฃ-set ๐’๐ฌ in @MountainWest play!
๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐บ ‘๐๐ผ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ป ๐๐น๐ผ๐๐ฒโข๏ธ pic.twitter.com/kQZx0lgnka
โ New Mexico Volleyball (@UNMLoboVB) October 2, 2024
In a match that saw 36 ties and 20 lead changes in total, the Lobos held the Falcons to .170 hitting after UNLV and San Diego State snapped a four-match streak of holding opponents below .200 last week, improving to 5-2 when doing so. UNM’s 94 digs on Tuesday night are the most in a single match since Sept. 23, 2023 (96) — a five-set road win over Nevada to open MW play last season.
PLAY OF THE MATCH
๐๐๐ผ๐ ๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐๐๐โผ๏ธ
Lobos keep it alive and Liz and Jada put a roof up to end it!
S5 | Lobos 13, Falcons 11 pic.twitter.com/ZESwH2Dblm
โ New Mexico Volleyball (@UNMLoboVB) October 2, 2024
HIGHLIGHTS
๐ Highlights from @UNMLoboVBโs 3-2 win against Air Force#MakingHerMark| #MWVB | #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/MyiIIRSoRX
โ Mountain West (@MountainWest) October 2, 2024
UP NEXT
With the win, the Lobos improve to 3-1 in five-set matches and 2-1 in Mountain West play heading into Saturdayโs road match at Boise State. That match will be streamed via the MW Network atย GoLobos.com/Watch, with live stats and all other matchday essentials available at GoLobos.com/FollowVB. Follow @UNMLoboVB on IG, X and Facebook for match coverage, promotional information, updates, behind-the-scenes content and more.
