Lobos get off to spirited start in exhibition win
Inclan, Freiwald excel vs. UTEP
Not a bad place to start. The University of New Mexico volleyball team tipped off new coach Jon Newman-Gonchar’s first season in style Saturday, defeating UTEP in an exhibition match in front of roughly 1,000 fans at Dreamstyle Arena.
The Lobos, who won’t play at home again until their Sept. 28 Mountain West opener, gave the Pit crowd an entertaining show. UNM swept the first three sets by 25-17, 25-23 and 25-21 scores, then fought off two set points to take an agreed-upon fourth set 29-27.
“I love the way this team fights,” Newman-Gonchar said afterward. “They’ve got great spirit. When things aren’t going well we have a motto of ‘Reset and respond.’ I thought our players lived up to that today.”
UNM showed its tenacity in the third set when the Miners grabbed a 19-17 lead. After a timeout, the Lobos raised their level of play during an 8-2 run to win the set and complete the sweep. Yasmin Tan, Tai Bierria and Lauren Twitty all registered kills during the surge.
Individual statistics for the match were not released but Twitty clearly led the Lobos in kills before sitting out the fourth set. Bierria, Danica Rowan and Nicolette Clark also had productive matches on the outside, with Tan and Rachel Murphy scoring effectively in the middle.
“We know we’ve got to get more equitable distribution for our hitters this year,” NewmanGonchar said, “and we’re working on that. But Lauren does a great job finishing when we need her.”
UNM setters Jaclyn Inclan and Maddie Freiwald split the court time to good effect. In fact, first-year UTEP coach Ben Wallis felt Inclan and Freiwald may have been the difference.
“Two veteran setters who didn’t make the kinds of mistakes we made,” Wallis said. “Three of the four sets could Northern Colorado Tournament: UNM vs. Rutgers, 10:30 a.m.; UNM vs. Grand Canyon, 4:30 p.m.
have gone either way but UNM played the big points cleaner.”
Wallis, a former assistant coach at UNM and New Mexico State, said he and NewmanGonchar have communicated frequently over the past few months. Both are trying to reenergize programs, and he said they’ve become fast friends.
“We’re both first-year coaches who are trying to push the needle forward,” Wallis said, “and we both have new babies at home. We’re kind of living the same life right now.”
UNM has seven new players on its roster, while UTEP has 10. One new Miner, 6-3 freshman hitter Irbe Lazda, gave the Lobos fits throughout the match, converting kills on nearly all of her attempts.
“She’s someone we can build around, definitely,” Wallis said.
Newman-Gonchar made a point to emphasize that his team still has “a long way to go,” but was pleased with Saturday’s debut performance. He was also pleased by the energy from a crowd that included UNM’s women’s basketball, women’s soccer and softball teams.
“Really nice turnout for an exhibition match,” he said. “They brought great energy and I’d say this was a really good start.”