Lobos Keep Rolling, Stifle Boise State in Four on Senior Night

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – New Mexico Volleyball turned the tables on Boise State for its fourth-straight win on Senior Night Thursday at the Johnson Center, narrowly dropping the opening set before dominating the next three to turn away the Broncos in four (24-26, 25-14, 25-20, 25-14) and continue a remarkable turnaround for UNM in the last two weeks.

Winners of four matches in a row for the first time this season after snapping a nine-match losing streak last Thursday, the Lobos (13-13, 6-10 MW) are back to .500 overall and remain alive in the hunt for a spot in the Mountain West Tournament – they still need to win both matches next week and for the Broncos to lose two more for a chance at prying away the No. 6 seed. They’ll hit the road to face San Diego State (17-7, 9-5 MW) next on Thursday before closing out the regular season against UNLV (12-13, 5-9 MW) next Saturday.

BY THE NUMBERS
– UNM held the Broncos to .063 hitting on the match, outblocking them 17-6 and outdigging them 85-79 while putting away 54 kills on .268 hitting – the Lobos’ best single-match average in Mountain West play this season.
– The Broncos finished the match with 39 attacking errors to UNM’s 12. 85 team digs tonight were the most in a four-set match for UNM this season.
– The Lobos only surrendered three aces to the Mountain West’s most prolific serving team (2.08 per set) after getting aced 12 times in a straight-sets loss on Oct. 5 in Boise.
– The Lobos’ 17 team blocks make it five straight matches in which they’ve surpassed double-digit team blocks while outblocking opponents – they’ve now finished with 17 or more blocks in three of their last four matches after finishing with 18 against Nevada last Thursday and coming up with a season-high 18.5 in a five-set win over Utah State two days later.

Lauryn Payne connected on 18 of those kills on career-high .372 hitting and Elizabeth Woods put away a career-high 10 kills on .444 hitting in her final match at the Johnson Center to join her in double-digits. Fellow seniors Jada Bouyer (9 kills) and Kialah Jefferson (8 kills) combined for 17 more and Liepa Lavickyte finished with seven to round out one of the Lobos’ most prolific attacking performances this season.

Madeleine Miller surpassed 40 assists for the sixth time this season – and first since Oct. 19 – while picking up a career- and match-high 17 digs for her 13th double-double of the season, adding two kills and a block without any errors. Falanika Danielson (14 digs), Madison Blanco (14 digs), Giselle Groe (11 digs) and Jefferson (11 digs) all finished in double-digits as well.

Woods (1 BS / 7 BA) and Bouyer (8 BA) both led UNM with eight total blocks, with Lavickyte just behind with seven block assists and Jefferson (1 BS / 4 BA) coming up with five more.

QUITE THE TURNAROUND
In their current four-match win streak, UNM is averaging 3.59 blocks per set to opponents’ 1.94 blocks per set, hitting for a .219 clip as a team while holding opponents to a .114 average.
Over their nine-match losing streak that was finally snapped last Thursday, the Lobos hit .149 while allowing opponents to hit .222 against them. They averaged 2.78 blocks per set in that span to opponents’ 3.06.

SENIOR NIGHT IN JOHNSON
Five seniors playing their final home match at Johnson were honored pregame for their contributions to the UNM Volleyball program — Sohila Wafeek, Elizabeth Woods, Jada Bouyer, Falanika Danielson and Kialah Jefferson.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

🏐 Highlights from @UNMLoboVB‘s 3-1 win over Boise State! #MakingHerMark | #MWVB | #GoLobos pic.twitter.com/vRWmHFpeC7

— Mountain West (@MountainWest) November 15, 2024

ALL-TIME SERIES
With the win, the Lobos trail the all-time series with Boise State by one match at 13-14, with an 8-4 record at home. Coach Jon Newman-Gonchar is 4-6 against the Broncos in his tenure as UNM head coach, but the Lobos have won three of the last four meetings. After losing eight of their last 10 matches to the Broncos heading into the 2023 season, the Lobos beat them both at home (9/30/23) and away (11/2/23) in four sets to sweep the season series for the first time since 2014 and secured the series split with tonight’s win after falling in straight sets in Boise.

UP NEXT / FOLLOW THE ACTION
The Lobos hit the road for the final week of Mountain West play, squaring off with San Diego State (17-7, 9-5 MW) on Thursday before heading to Vegas to take on UNLV (12-13, 5-9 MW) on Saturday. 

Both matches will be streamed via the MW Network, 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.