Lobos Sweep Manhattan, Hold off NAU in Five on Day One at Lobo Invitational
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – New Mexico Volleyball went 2-0 on the first day of the Lobo Invitational at the Johnson Center on Friday, sweeping Manhattan in three sets (25-10, 25-21, 25-16) in the Lobos’ 2025 season opener before holding off Northern Arizona in a five-set slugfest (17-25, 25-19, 25-16, 26-28, 15-13) later in the evening.
After finishing with 11 kills in the first match of the day, Gioia Riccato poured in 22 more in the second as UNM bounced back from an explosive attack from NAU in the opening set. Addison France (13 kills) and Naomi Chankoumi (12 kills) also registered double-digits, with France doing so for the second match in a row after putting down 11 vs. Manhattan.
On the day, the Lobos hit .239 as a team and averaged 13.25 kills per set across eight sets of action. They’ll look to complete a 3-0 weekend at home in tomorrow’s tournament finale against Houston Christian (0-2).
With the win, the Lobos avenged a five-set loss to the Lumberjacks last season in Flagstaff that snapped a five-match streak of Lobo wins. They’ve now won six of their last seven meetings with NAU – Coach Newman-Gonchar’s alma mater – and improve to 19-10 against the Lumberjacks all-time (10-0 at home; 5-5 on the road; 2-1 neutral).
MATCH ONE – NEW MEXICO 3, MANHATTAN 0
New Mexico Volleyball opened the Lobo Invitational with a three-set sweep of Manhattan (25-10, 25-21, 25-16) Friday morning at the Johnson Center, holding the Jaspers (0-1) to .000 hitting behind a balanced attack to begin the 2025 season 1-0.
Lobo newcomers Addison France (11 kills, 2 digs, 3 total blocks) and Gioia Riccato (11 kills, 2 aces, 7 digs) led the way with double-digit kills and four other Lobos finished with multiple – UNM racked up 40 kills in total (13.33/set) while hitting .289 on the match. Despite only appearing in the first two sets, Naomi Chankoumi put down six kills on nine attempts for a team-best .667 hitting performance, while France hit .400 on the match.
Madeleine Miller produced 33 of UNM’s 36 assists while serving up two aces of her own – Uliana Yastrub connected on two more while contributing three kills. In her first start at libero, Camila Canedo came up with a team-high nine digs to go with the Lobos’ three other assists. In total, six Lobos picked up multiple digs, with Yastrub (4 digs), Anna Johannson (2 digs), France (2 digs), Madeleine Miller (4 digs) and Riccato (7 digs) all contributing to a 31-dig team effort.
UNM set the tone early with 14 kills on match-high .400 hitting in the opening frame and bounced back from early Manhattan leads in the second and third to keep it to three sets despite a combined 15 ties and eight lead changes. The ‘Bos held the Jaspers to seven kills in the first set and just six in the third as they closed things out, keeping them below zero hitting in both.
In all three sets, the Lobos took control down the stretch — they closed the first and third sets with 4-0 runs and scored three of the last four points in the second.
Friday’s matchup was the first between New Mexico and Manhattan on the volleyball court. The Lobos improve to 1-0 against the Jaspers all-time.
UP NEXT
The Lobos (1-0) return tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. for their weekend finale vs. Houston Christian. All of this weekend’s action will be streamed via the MW Network at GoLobos.com/Watch, with live stats at GoLobos.com/VBStats. Find parking and gameday information at GoLobos.com/VBGameday. Follow @UNMLoboVB on IG, X and Facebook for matchday updates, highlights, promotional information, behind-the-scenes content and more.
