by Connor Gilbert
LARAMIE, Wyo. — New Mexico Volleyball took the second set of its Mountain West road matchup with Wyoming at the UniWyo Sports Complex on Saturday but couldn’t overcome a .274 hitting night and 12 service aces from the Cowgirls (12-7, 4-5 MW) as they fell in four sets (16-25, 25-19, 16-25, 18-25).
With the loss, Lobos (9-11) drop to 2-8 in conference matches heading into week six of their Mountain West slate – they’ve taken a set off each of their last six opponents but have fallen in four sets in each.
Six different Lobos finished with five or more kills, led by a 10-kill outing from freshman Seenane Brewer that saw her finish one shy of a career-high. Jada Bouyer added seven kills to go with three total blocks, Lauryn Payne connected on six more and Naomi Chankoumi, Liepa Lavickyte and Elizabeth Woods all finished with five each to round things out. Chankoumi hit for a season- and match-high .300 average with just two errors on 10 attempts.
Brewer added a career-high seven digs, one of seven Lobos to finish with multiple and five that picked up six or more.
UNM held Wyoming to 24 kills on .207 hitting over the first two sets, putting away 12 kills in the second — led by three apiece from Brewer and Woods — on match-high .409 hitting to tie things up. But the Cowgirls connected on 33 kills over the next two sets at a .325 clip as the Lobos put away 19 on .097 hitting in the same span.
In total, the Cowgirls served up 12 aces to the Lobos’ three and outblocked them 14-8, with Madeleine Miller serving up two of UNM’s aces while producing 20 assists and Woods leading the Lobos with two block assists and two solo blocks. Miller finished with a team-high 11 digs for her ninth double-double of the season — the second-most on the team behind Kialah Jefferson (10).
Falanika Danielson served up UNM’s other ace while matching Miller with 11 digs and producing a pair of assists, with Sohila Wafeek adding eight assists to go with three digs
