Nov. 11, 2008
Holding Court With … Taylor Hadfield
Up Next For Lobo Volleyball
Match #26 — at Air Force
Thursday, Nov. 13 7 p.m. (MST)
Clune Arena Colorado Springs, Colo.
Live Stats, Audio and Video: Links available on www.GoLobos.com.
UNM vs. Air Force: The Lobos are 20-3 against Air Force in a relatively new series that began in 1997. UNM is 8-2 against the Falcons in Colorado Springs. The Lobos have a current 10-match win streak against AFA.
Up Next: The Lobos return home for the final MWC match of the regular season against TCU on Friday, Nov. 21. Match time at Johnson Center is set for 7 p.m. UNM will be trying to avenge an early season 3-2 loss to the Frogs in Fort Worth.
QUICK HITS
Fairchild Still Ranked 3rd in NCAA and Leading MWC … Senior All-America candidate Jeanne Fairchild continues to lead the Mountain West Conference in kills (4.79 ps) and points (5.12 ps) this season. Fairchild ranks third in the nation in kills per set this week, just .20 away from Mackenzie Angner of South Dakota State in second at 4.99 ps. The Albuquerque native reached the 1,000-kill career mark at UNM on Oct. 4 against Utah with her final kill of the third set. Fairchild ranks fourth on the UNM all-time career kills list with 1,169 kills.
Lobos Among Tops In Attendance … New Mexico stayed at 21st in the national attendance rankings this week. UNM is averaging 1,547 fans over the 10 home matches of the season. The Lobos’ season-high 2,256 fans showed up on Nov. 6 against CSU. The Lobos are second in the MWC behind Colorado State in ninth with 2,489 fans per match.
20 Wins Within Reach … The Lobos are one win away from recording UNM’s first 20-win season since 1994. When the Lobos reach the mark, it will be just the ninth time UNM has recorded 20 wins in the history of the program.
Tripp Tops Career Digs List … Senior libero Gayle Tripp became the Lobos all-time career dig leader on Nov. 6 against Colorado State. The Rio Rancho native recorded 20 digs in the match and pushed her career total to 1,508, passing Sharon Browning’s career mark of 1,504 from 1989-92. She now has 1,527 digs and needs 44 to move into third place on the MWC career digs list.
Lobo Volleyblog … This week’s blog is from sophomore middle blocker Taylor Hadfield of Corte Madera, N.M.
About New Mexico (19-6, 9-5 MWC) … The Lobos are holding on to third place in the MWC, following Saturday’s 3-2 win over Wyoming … All-America candidate Jeanne Fairchild leads the Lobos and the MWC with 4.79 kills and 5.12 points per set, while sophomore Jade Michaelsen leads UNM setters with 10.86 assists per set … Defensively, junior Anna Lehne leads the front row with 1.28 blocks per set, while senior Gayle Tripp runs the back row with 4.57 digs per set … Junior Allie Suiter is hitting .306, while Lehne is hitting .303 … Sophomore Lisa Meeter and freshman Allison Buck lead the team with 16 aces each. Tripp and Michaelsen have 15 each and senior Sarah Kwasigroch has 14 … UNM did not drop a set to start the season at 24-0, a school record. The NCAA record is 105 consecutive by Florida in 2003 … The 8-0 season start ranks fourth-best in program history … UNM finished their 11-match September road trip with a 9-2 record … The Lobos are racking up travel miles this season. UNM adds 790 miles this week travelling to Colorado Springs. The final regular season mileage tally will be 11,669 miles. Add on the 13,790 miles from the trip to Argentina at the beginning of Summer Break and the Lobos have logged 25,459 miles from May 27-Nov. 14, 2008 … UNM ended an 8-match losing streak against UNLV on Sept. 27 and won for the first time in Vegas since 2000 with a 3-0 sweep … The Lobos won for the first time in Laramie since 2001 with a 3-0 sweep of Wyoming on Oct. 9 … With the Nov. 1 win at BYU, the Lobos have won the season series against the Cougars for the first time since 1991 … It is also the first time since 1997 that UNM has swept the UNLV season series and since 2000 to sweep the Wyoming season series.
About Air Force (5-20, 0-12 MWC) … The Falcons are currently in ninth place in the conference and had last week off … Jasamine Pettie leads AFA with 2.28 kills per set, while Michelle Harrington sports the best hitting percentage at .188 … Jessica Hellmann is the lead setter with 6.15 assists per set … Victoria Martinez leads the back row defense with 2.93 digs per set, while Harrington leads the front with 0.85 blocks per set.
All-Time vs. Air Force (20-3; H: 10-1, A: 8-2, N: 2-0)
For team comparison and series results, click on the full Game Notes package above.
Winning Ways … New Mexico’s 19 overall wins are the highest total by a Lobo team since 1994. UNM is 9-5 in MWC action and has the most conference wins by the Lobos since the MWC formed in 1999. It is also the most conference wins for the Lobos since 1996.
UNM Most Overall Wins
1. 1983 – 28
2. 1981 – 26
3. 1988 – 25
4. 1991 – 23
5. 1990 – 22
1989 – 22
7. 1982 – 21
8. 1994 – 20
9. 2008 – 19
10. 1996 – 18
1993 – 18
1992 – 18
UNM Most Conference Wins
1. 1996 – 13
2. 1991 – 12
3. 1988 – 10
4. 1994 – 9
1989 – 9
2008 – 9
7. 1993 – 8
1981 – 8
9. 2007 – 7
1992 – 7
1990 – 7
NCAA RPI Announced … The NCAA released its final Volleyball RPI report of the regular season on Nov. 10. The Lobos are ranked 71st. Utah holds a slight edge over Colorado State as the top MWC schools are ranked 14th and 15th. UNM is the third-highest ranked MWC member. Unofficially, RichKern.com has the Lobos’ RPI ranked 71, 33rd in the RichKern.com poll, and the Lobos’ Pablo ranking is 37.