The University of New Mexico volleyball team secured their second sweep of the season, winning 3-0 against the St. John’s Red Storm on Friday, Sept. 1. The match took place
on day two of the Lobo Invitational. The Lobos came in strong after going 2-1 against the University of California, Irvine Invitational the weekend before.
The Lobos had a tremendous defensive effort at the net with 11 team blocks and the Red Storm only successfully stopping the Lobos twice at the net. In a post-match interview, Head Coach Jon Newman-Gonchar praised the team’s defense.
“We had some huge defensive effort plays. And I thought with the defense at the net, we made it very hard to score points tonight, which was a huge plus for our crew,” Newman-Gonchar said.
The first point of the night was scored by UNM’s Uxue Guereca off an assist by setter Melissa Walden.
St. John’s called their first timeout after the Lobos scored a kill by UNM’s Elizabeth Woods. Woods’ kill put the Lobos in the lead by four points, 8-4. Guereca and Kaitlynn Biassou set the tone for the Lobo’s offense with a combined 11 kills in the set. UNM won the first set of the match, 25-16.
St. John’s came back strong in the second set with seven ties and three lead changes.
St. John’s won the first point of the set, blocking a hit by UNM’s Athina Dimitriadis.
Despite the effort put up by the opponent, the Lobos pulled through – winning the set 25-19 off an attack error.
Going into the third set, the Lobos were eager to win. UNM went on a 4-0 scoring run off a series of kills by Guereca and Dimitriadis, and an ace by Kali Wolf.
The Lobos secured their match win with a kill by Woods and an assist by Guereca, beating St. John’s 25-19.
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St. John’s used both of their timeouts in each set, trying to regain themselves and keep up with the momentum UNM was putting forward, but the Lobos couldn’t be stopped.
UNM’s libero, Angela Crosetti, led the match with 13 digs – ready for anything St. John’s sent her way.
Guereca and Biassou had a great showing, leading the Lobos with 14 and 13 kills respectively. Guereca spoke about her achievement and said it couldn’t have been done without the support of her teammates.
“It felt awesome, but for sure I couldn’t do it without my team. I think they always had my back through the whole match,” Guereca said.
The Lobos had an outstanding team, hitting percentage of .330 and 37 kills total throughout the night. Newman-Gonchar was proud of the effort put up by the team against the Red Storm.
“Just thrilled that we could see the growth of each and every one of these players throughout the match at different times,” Newman-Gonchar said.
UNM played Utah Tech in the final match of the Lobo invitational on Saturday, Sept. 2. Sadly, after putting up a tremendous fight, the Lobos lost 2-3.
The Lobos will play next at the University of North Dakota Classic on Sept. 7 in Grand Forks, North Dakota.
Francesca Cicconetti is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @fran_cicconetti.
Francesca Cicconetti is a freelance reporter at the Daily Lobo. She can be reached on Twitter @fran_cicconetti
