New Mexico Lobos Volleyball – at the SMU Invite
Friday: New Mexico vs. College of Charleston, 9 a.m. MT, New Mexico vs. Houston Baptist, 3 p.m. MT.
Saturday: New Mexico vs. SMU, 1:30 p.m. MT.
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – After playing well in front of its home crowd and coming out of the MCM Elegante Lobo Invitational, the University of New Mexico volleyball team is looking to continue the winning momentum into the weekend at the SMU Invite.
The Lobos are currently 5-4 on the season and over the weekend they claimed three victories over Montana State, Bethune Cookman and UC Irvine. The Lobos outhit their opponents .221 to .030 and tallied 121 kills to their opponents 95. They picked up 127 digs and nine service aces.
This weekend, New Mexico takes on three tough teams; College of Charleston, Houston Baptist and SMU.
Scouting College of Charleston: 7-4, 0-0 CAA…Head coach Jason Kepner is in his eighth season with the College of Charleston. His team is coming off a 3-0 weekend at the College of Charleston Classic, winning matches against Wake Forest, Stetson and Cal State Fullerton. The Cougars are coming off the 2013 championship season as they were the CAA regular season champions. They return 10 players from that squad including four all-conference honorees. The Cougars are led by senior right side and first-team all-CAA honoree Sloane White as well as 2013 CAA Setter of the Year Kallie McKown. The team is currently .222 on the season and is led by White who is hitting .304 and averaging 2.41 kills per set.
Scouting Houston Baptist: 6-4, 0-0 Southland Conference…Houston Baptist finished the 2013 season with a 15-18 overall record. The Huskies finished tied for sixth in the Southland Conference with a 9-9 record. The team is coached by Trent Herman who is in his 3rd season. He returns seven letterwinners including five starters from last season. The team has no seniors on the squad and is relying on freshman outside hitter Jessica Wooten, who is leading the team with 125 kills and 3.57 kills per set. Overall the team is hitting .176 and averaging 11.92 kills per set and 15.41 digs per set.
SCOUTING SMU: 8-1, 0-0 American Athletic Conference…SMU has started off its 2014 season with an 8-1 record with big wins against Oklahoma and Arkansas who have both received votes this season in the AVCA Division I Coaches Poll. SMU lost its season opener and has won eight straight since that match. Over the weekend, the team went 3-0 at the Arkansas Invitational, claiming wins over Stony Brook, South Dakota and Arkansas. Head coach Lisa Seifert is in her 19th season. Key returners to the squad are junior Avery Acker and senior Caroline Young. Acker was an All-America Honorable Mention selection and was the American Athletic Conference Setter of the Year. Young returns on the outside after being selected to the All-American Athletic Conference First Team.
Lobos Are MCM Elegante Lobo Invite Champions…After going 0-3 at the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Volleyball Classic, the Lobos bounced back and claimed three victories to take the title at the MCM Elegante Lobo Invitational. New Mexico put together three strong performances, sweeping both Montana State (25-16, 25-17, 25-10) and Bethune Cookman (25-13, 25-18, 25-14). The Lobos faced UC Irvine in the championship match Saturday evening and won two tough sets (25-20, 25-23) before dropping its first set of the weekend 22-25. Energy and athleticism proved to be the case in the fourth set as the Lobos won 25-22. The Lobos outhit their opponents .221 to .030 and collected 121 kills to their opponents total of 95. They had nine aces and 127 digs. But the real strength of the weekend was their ability to block. The Lobos out-blocked their opponents 35 to 14, averaging 3.5 blocks per set.
Riddle Named MCM Elegante Lobo Invite MVP…Redshirt senior Chantale Riddle had her strongest performance of the season at the MCM Elegante Lobo Invitational as she was named the tournament MVP. She led the tournament in many categories including kills (35 & 4.38/set), hitting percentage (.333), points (5.62/set) and blocks (1.62/set). The Roswell, New Mexico native recorded her first double-double of the season in the Lobos’ 3-1 win over UC Irvine. She tallied a season-high of 19 kills and a season-high of 15 digs. She also had a team-high of five blocks in that match.Blocking has been Riddle’s biggest strength this season as she totaled 13 for the weekend. She recorded a team-high of five blocks against Montana State and UC Irvine. And a team-high of blocks in just one set played in 3-0 win over Bethune Cookman.In the opening match of the tournament, Riddle pounded down 11 kills, hit .360 for the match and collected five blocks to lead the team to a 3-0 sweep.
Johnson, Gullatt on All-Tournament Team…Juniors Hannah Johnson and Skye Gullatt both made the All-Tournament team at the MCM Elegante Lobo Invitational. The two had very strong performances for the Lobos. Johnson led the tournament in assists with 77, averaging 9.62 per set. She had a weekend-high of 40 assists in the Lobos’ 3-1 over UC Irvine. Gullatt was a big factor in the middle. She tallied a total of 16 kills with a .263 hitting percentage. She posted eight kills against Montana State and seven against UC Irvine.
Nelson Adds sand player to indoor squad…Last Friday, head coach Jeff Nelson added a sand volleyball player to the indoor roster. Eastyn Baleto, a freshman from Seattle, Washington, played in two matches at the MCM Elegante Lobo Invitational. In high school she was an outside hitter but Nelson used her for her back row play, coming in as a sub for the back row. In her two matches, she collected four digs and served five times. Baleto played at West Seattle High School and lettered on the varsity team four years. She earned many accolades and was a four-time Metro Sound Division Champion.
Riddle on Pace For All-Time Kill Leader…Senior Chantale Riddle is on pace to break the all-time kill record. The record is currently held by Tania Gooley, who played from 1991-94 and tallied a total of 1,579 kills in her career. Riddle started the season with 1,182 and after the opening weekend and collecting a total of 21 kills in the three matchs, Riddle moved up to 1,203 total career kills. After the Hawaiian Airlines Wahine Classic, Riddle was up to 1,240 kills. But after the MCM Elegante Lobo Invitation, Riddle owns a total of 1,275 kills after tallying 35.
Nelson on Pace for 400th win…Head coach Jeff Nelson picked up his 300th career win on November 27, 2009 and is on pace in 2014 to pick up his 400th win. His 300th win was a 3-1 win at New Orleans. Before the season started, Nelson was 22 wins away from the 400 mark, but with two wins at the Lobo Classic and three wins at the MCM Elegante Lobo Invitational, Nelson is now 17 wins away from his 400th win.