ALL-TIME SERIES
• The Lobos lead the all-time series against both teams — they’re 14-17 against Utah State all-time and 19-3 against Nevada, with a 10-5 mark on the road against the Aggies and a 10-2 mark in Reno against the Wolfpack.
• UNM has won three in a row over Nevada but lost three in a row against Utah State — the Lobos are 9-1 in their last 10 matches against the Wolfpack and 5-5 against the Aggies in their last 10 meetings.
• Coach Jon Newman-Gonchar is 6-1 against Nevada and 4-4 against Utah State in his time at UNM.
LAST WEEK
The Lobos dropped to 2-10 in MW play after falling in three on the road at Fresno State (23-25, 21-25, 16-25) and dropping a four-set battle at San Jose State (21-25, 21-25, 25-22, 13-25) on Saturday.
- Lauryn Payne led the Lobos in kills yet again, putting away 21 (3.00/set) to go with three block assists and a solo block.
- Naomi Chankoumi continued her resurgent play with the second-most kills on the team last week (13) — in her last five matches, she’s produced 35 kills after only putting away just one in the prior five matches.
- The Lobos averaged 10.43 kills per set and hit .168 as a team last week, with their best performance coming against San Jose State, where they hit .172 on the match.
- Kialah Jefferson matched Chankoumi’s 13 kills, while Jada Bouyer (12) also finished with double-digits on the week. Jefferson served up a team-high five aces in total – nearly half of the Lobos’ 12 on the week.
- Madeleine Miller and Sohila Wafeek combined for 58 of UNM’s 69 assists across the seven sets while combining for 19 digs.
- Falanika Danielson led the Lobos’ defense in the back row with 38 total digs (5.43 digs per set), surpassing 20 digs for the eighth time this season last week. She also added two service aces, bringing her season total to 20 aces.
SATURDAY’S HIGHLIGHTS
LAST TIME VS. NEVADA (Oct. 12)
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.
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.
LAST TIME VS. UTAH STATE (Oct. 10)
New Mexico Volleyball forced a fourth with a gritty 31-29 win in the third set of its Mountain West road matchup with Utah State (6-10, 3-3 MW) at the Estes Center on Thursday but came up just short of going to five for the fifth time this season after the Aggies closed out with a 7-0 run to retake the lead late and win in four (24-26, 15-25, 31-29, 23-25).
The Lobos (9-6, 2-3 MW) return to the court Saturday for a road matchup with Nevada (9-8, 2-3 MW) in Reno, with first serve set for 1 p.m. MT.
Kialah Jefferson recorded her eighth double-double of the season while finishing with team-highs of 13 kills and 11 digs, with Lauryn Payne adding 12 more and Madeleine Miller putting away a career-high eight kills while producing 31 of UNM’s 41 assists.
Elizabeth Woods led UNM with a career-high 11 block assists for five total blocks while adding six more kills, with Liepa Lavickyte coming up with 4.5 total blocks (1 BS, 7 BA) while adding three more kills. Falanika Danielson served up three of UNM’s six aces while picking up five digs and dishing three assists, with Woods, Madison Blanco and Miller all serving up an ace each as well. Blanco finished with the second-most digs (9), with Miller picking up six more.
LOBOS ON THE BLOCK
- Elizabeth Woods, the team’s senior middle blocker and lone returning starter from 2023, continues to anchor the Lobos at the net with a team-high 93 total blocks (14 BS, 79 BA) in 72 sets. Woods has posted five or more blocks in 10 matches this season and has hit above .300 in nine. She’s also added 18 service aces to her repertoire after never attempting a serve in a collegiate match prior to this season.
- Liepa Lavickyte has been an important contributor since rejoining the starting lineup, tallying 79 total blocks (10 BS, 69 BA) on the season. She’s finished with multiple blocks in all but two matches so far this year and currently ranks No. 2 among Mountain West active leaders with 1.20 blocks per set on the season.
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 363 digs at a rate of 4.17 digs per set. She’s led the team in digs in 17 of UNM’s 22 matches and has reached double-digit digs in 19 matches this season, including eight 20+ dig performances. Her efforts have earned her MW Defensive Player of the Week honors, and she currently ranks No. 1 among Mountain West individual active leaders 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 eight home matches so far this season, UNM’s averaged 844 fans a match, including a season-high 1,387 in attendance on Tuesday 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 Nov. 6, UNM ranks among the Top 100 in NCAA Division I in four statistical categories:
• Blocks per Set: 73rd nationally (2.36)
• Digs per Set: 72nd nationally (15.78)
• Team Attacks per Set: 67th nationally (36.37)
Within the Mountain West Conference, the Lobos rank in the Top Five in three categories:
• Digs per Set: 1st (15.78)
• Opponent Hitting: 5th (.202)
• Team Attacks per Set: 1st (36.37)
