Lobo VB Hits the Road for Round 2 with Fresno State, San Jose State this Week

New Mexico Volleyball continues Mountain West play on the road this week with a pair of rematches, heading to Fresno State (11-10, 7-3 MW) on Thursday before facing San Jose State (11-3, 7-3 MW) on Saturday.  

This week kicks off the back stretch of Mountain West play for the Lobos (9-11, 2-8 MW), who’ll only be facing opponents they’ve met once already the rest of the way. UNM dropped to 9-11 overall and 2-8 in MW play after two hard-fought four-set losses to Colorado State at home last Thursday (17-25, 27-25,19-25,19-25) and Wyoming on the road on Saturday (16-25, 25-19,16-25,18-25) – they’ve taken a set off each of their last six opponents but have fallen in each. 

A week prior, the Lobos faced both Fresno State and San Jose State for the first time this season at home, falling to the Spartans on Oct. 17 (15-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-27) and Bulldogs on Oct. 19 (22-25, 25-21, 22-25, 29-31). Sitting in 10th place in the conference standings heading into this week’s matches, they’ll get a chance to snap a seven-match skid in their rematch with the Bulldogs on Thursday.

Even after an 0-2 week, the Lobos are among the best in the Mountain West at keeping rallies going — UNM has held opponents to .199 hitting on the season so far (5th in the MW, No. 144 in NCAA D-I) and enter the week ranked in the Top 100 in the nation in digs per set (64th, 15.91) and blocks per set (87th, 2.29). They’re leading the Mountain West in digs per set for a third consecutive season and are getting off more attack attempts per set (36.58) than any other team in the conference.

In 2023, UNM defeated SJSU in their lone meeting on the road — snapping a four-match losing streak to the Spartans in the process — but fell to the Bulldogs in four sets both at home and on the road. The Lobos are 1-5 against San Jose in Coach Newman-Gonchar’s tenure and 17-12 against the Spartans all-time, with a 17-20 record all-time against the Bulldogs and a 3-4 record under Coach Newman-Gonchar.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
Both matches will be streamed via the MW Network at 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.

at Fresno State (11-10, 7-3 MW)
Oct. 31 | 6 p.m. MT | Fresno, Calif.

at San Jose State (11-3, 7-3 MW)
Nov. 2 | 3 p.m. MT | San Jose, Calif.

ALL-TIME SERIES
• The Lobos are 1-5 against San Jose in Coach Newman-Gonchar’s tenure and 17-12 against the Spartans all-time, with a 17-20 record all-time against the Bulldogs and a 3-4 record under Coach Newman-Gonchar.
• UNM is 5-14 against Fresno State on the road but 7-6 against the Spartans in road matchups.
In 2023, UNM defeated SJSU in their lone meeting on the road — snapping a four-match losing streak to the Spartans in the process — but fell to the Bulldogs in four sets both at home and on the road. UNM’s win over the Spartans was the Lobos’ first since 2019 as well as their first win over SJSU on the road since 2015. UNM’s loss to the Bulldogs last October snapped a three-match win streak against them.

LAST WEEK
New Mexico took a set off both Colorado State at home and Wyoming on the road last week but couldn’t win a second in either match to extend their skid to seven with the last six all being in four sets.

THURSDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS (L, 1-3 vs. Colorado St.)

🏐 Highlights from @CSUVolleyball‘s 3-1 win over New Mexico

#MakingHerMark | #MWVB | #Stalwart pic.twitter.com/9P2jtl7Qi4

— Mountain West (@MountainWest) October 25, 2024

SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS (L, 1-3 @ Wyoming)

🏐 Highlights from @WYO_Volleyball 3-1 win against New Mexico!#MakingHerMark | #MWVB | #GoWyo pic.twitter.com/zsXsX4WhZC

— Mountain West (@MountainWest) October 26, 2024

LAST TIME VS. FRESNO STATE (Oct. 19)
New Mexico fell in four sets (22-25, 25-21, 22-25, 29-31) to Fresno State in the two teams’ first Mountain West meeting of the season on Oct. 19 after dropping a fourth set that went beyond 30 points.

Lauryn Payne finished with 18 kills — her eighth match in a row cracking double-digits — and put away eight of them to pace UNM’s attack as the Lobos won the second set to tie things up. Elizabeth Woods and Jada Bouyer both adding eight each and Seenane Brewer putting away six more on team-high .333 hitting to round things out.  Falanika Danielson picked up 25 digs — her seventh match this season with 20+ digs — and served up two aces, with Giselle Groe, Madeleine Miller and Kialah Jefferson all adding nine digs and a service ace each.

The Lobos (9-9, 2-6 MW) hit for a match-high .243 while putting away 14 kills in the final set to push the Bulldogs (10-9, 6-2 MW) late, fighting off two Fresno State match points and going ahead 29-28 when Elizabeth Woods connected on her eighth kill of the day and followed up with a service ace. But the Bulldogs responded with back-to-back kills before a UNM attack error halted the Lobos’ rally for good.

LAST TIME VS. SAN JOSE STATE (Oct. 17)
The Lobos couldn’t fight their way out of an 0-2 hole even after a spirited effort in the final two sets of its Mountain West matchup with San Jose State (10-3, 5-3 MW) at the Johnson Center in the two teams’ first meeting on Oct. 17, falling in four sets (15-25, 18-25, 25-22, 25-27).

The Lobos (9-8, 2-5 MW) started to pick up momentum after holding the Spartans to .073 hitting in the third to stay alive — they led 20-17 in the fourth after Elizabeth Woods’ third service ace of the night but were outscored 10-5 the rest of the way to dash their hopes of coming all the way back.

UNM got double-digit kills from Lauryn Payne (15), Kialah Jefferson (10) and Naomi Chankoumi (10) and increased their hitting percentage in each successive set but fell just shy of forcing a fifth — the Lobos connected on 16 kills in both the third and fourth sets after only recording 17 in the first two combined, hitting .121 over the first two sets but improving to .196 over the next two.

Jefferson picked up a team-high 20 digs – also a season-high – for her team-leading 10th double-double of the season, with Falanika Danielson recording 16. Jefferson’s now finished with a double-double in three consecutive matches.

Elizabeth Woods served up three aces and Giselle Groe added a pair as the Lobos continued to improve at the service line — after only serving up two aces total across their matches against Air Force and Boise earlier in October, they’ve now served up 19 aces across 12 sets of action since (1.58 aces per set).

Liepa Lavickyte added seven more – a new career-high – on team-high .636 hitting and Jada Bouyer finished with five kills to round things out, with Sohila Wafeek and Madeleine Miller both producing 20 assists each while splitting time at setter.

DANIELSON DIGGIN’ IT
Grad transfer Falanika Danielson has been a standout in the back row for the Lobos. After transferring from Temple, Danielson has anchored the defense, accumulating 325 digs at a rate of 4.06 digs per set. She’s led the team in digs in 15 of UNM’s 20 matches and has reached double-digit digs in 17 matches this season, including seven 20+ dig performances. Her efforts have earned her MW Defensive Player of the Week honors already this season, and she currently ranks No. 2 in the Mountain West in digs per set heading into the Lobos’ upcoming matches.

JOHNSON CENTER IS BOOMING
The Lobos have seen an increase in attendance in each season since 2019 — not counting the 2020-21 season that limited attendance due to the COVID pandemic — and UNM’s average attendance of 841 per home game last season was its highest since 2016 (1,248) and highest of Newman-Gonchar’s tenure. Saturday’s Senior Day brought in 1,589 fans to the Johnson Center – the highest-attended Lobo Volleyball game of the season. In 2023 overall (including three games at The Pit), the Lobos’ average of 956 fans per game is the highest since 2016 – including seven games with over 1,000 in attendance.

Through nine home matches so far this season, UNM’s averaged 825 fans a match, including a season-high 1,387 in attendance on Sept. 17 against New Mexico State — the second-most attended Lobo Volleyball match in the last eight seasons and sixth-most in the last decade.

NCAA/CONFERENCE STATS UDPATE
As of Oct. 29, UNM ranks among the Top 100 in NCAA Division I in four statistical categories:
• Blocks per Set: 87th nationally (2.29)
• Digs per Set: 64th nationally (15.91)
• Team Attacks per Set: 62nd nationally (36.58)

Within the Mountain West Conference, the Lobos rank in the Top Five in three categories:
• Opponent Hitting: 5th (.199)
• Blocks per Set: 5th (2.29)
• Digs per Set: 1st (15.91)
• Team Attacks per Set: 1st (36.58)

In the most recent RPI rankings on Oct. 27, the Lobos clocked in at 197 — good for ninth in the Mountain West.

This time around, the Lobos will be looking to repeat their success without five of last year’s starters, bringing in a variety of experienced transfers to bolster a group of returners with expanded roles.

UNM’s new-look roster features 11 newcomers and six returners – Woods (107 sets played in 2023) and sophomore Libero Giselle Groe (75 sets played) both return after becoming pivotal rotation pieces in 2023. Among six transfers joining the Lobos for the 2024 season, four already have three or more seasons of D-I experience under their belts:

• Senior outside hitters Jada Bouyer (Toledo) and Kialah Jefferson (VCU) bring 576 combined set appearances to Albuquerque, coming off a 2023 season in which Bouyer racked up 286 kills to go with 71 total blocks and Jefferson finished with 280 kills and 294 digs. 
• Senior setter Sohila Wafeek (UIC) finished her four-year UIC career ranked ninth in program history in assists (3,047) and averaged 8.28 assists per set in 368 set appearances there.
• An 2020 AAC Libero of the Year during her time at Temple, Falanika Danielson joins the Lobos as a fifth-year transfer with 408 set appearances across 108 matches under her belt – she averaged 3.71 digs per set (1,471 total) across four seasons of play at Temple.
• They’ll be joined by junior transfer Naomi Chankoumi – who accumulated 250 kills across 121 sets in two seasons at CSU Bakersfield – as well as redshirt sophomore middle and Norwegian national Liepa Levickyte (Oregon State).

Alongside them, returning letterwinners Lauryn Payne, Madison Blanco and Angela Crosetti all look to play bigger roles this fall, with five true freshmen giving the Lobos depth all over the court.