Late Nevada Surge Upends Lobos in Reno
RENO, Nev. – New Mexico Volleyball’s late push for a fifth set was undone by a late 6-0 run from Nevada as the Lobos fell in four (27-25, 25-27, 22-25, 22-25) in their Mountain West road matchup with the Wolfpack (10-8, 3-3 MW) Saturday afternoon at the Virginia Street Gym.
The Lobos (9-7, 2-4 MW) won a back-and-forth affair in the opening set 27-25 with 15 kills despite hitting just .095 – they lost the second set by the same score as the Wolfpack tied things up despite putting up 15 more kills while hitting for a match-high .382 average, but were held below .160 in the final two sets as Nevada snuffed their hopes of another five-set rally late.
Trailing 2-1, the Lobos started picking up momentum in the fourth with a 7-0 run and eventually led 22-19 before the Wolfpack responded with a 6-0 run — two kills, two blocks and two UNM attack errors — to swipe the set and end things before the Lobos could force a fifth.
BY THE NUMBERS
Four different Lobos put away double-digit kills – Jada Bouyer (15), Lauryn Payne (12), Kialah Jefferson (11) and Elizabeth Woods (10). Woods and Madi Blanco both served up three aces each as UNM served up eight in total – this week, the Lobos have served up an average of 1.75 aces per set after averaging only serving up two across eight sets last week (0.25/set).
The opening set was all Woods — she led UNM with five kills on .375 hitting while serving up a pair of aces — before Jefferson poured in five of her 11 total kills to lead the way in the second while receiving 10 serves without an error. But it was Bouyer who took the rest of the way, putting away 11 of UNM’s 24 kills over the final two sets with just one error in that span. In the fourth set alone, she connected on seven of UNM’s 13 kills on .538 hitting without a single attack error to go with five block assists.
Jefferson picked up 11 digs for her ninth double-double of the season and second match in a row surpassing double-digits in both kills and digs. Giselle Groe also finished with 11, with Blanco picking up five more.
Falanika Danielson surpassed the 20-dig mark for the sixth time this season with 22 to lead the Lobos, which narrowly outdug Nevada 63-62 — Madeleine Miller produced 39 of UNM’s 46 assists while finishing with two kills and five digs to go with a solo block and a block assist.
UNM came up with a season-high 17 blocks, nearly doubling up on the Wolfpack’s nine. Jada Bouyer led the way with a team-high nine block assists – five of which came in the fourth – with Woods finishing with one solo block and seven block assists and Liepa Lavickyte adding seven block assists.
UNM HIGHLIGHTS
UP NEXT
Next Thursday (Oct. 17), the Lobos (9-7, 2-4 MW) return home to host San Jose State (9-2, 4-2 MW) at the Johnson Center at 6:30 p.m. MT. The match will be streamed via the MW Network, with live stats, streaming 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.