New Mexico Lobos Volleyball – at San Josè State & Nevada
Thursday: New Mexico at San Jose State, 7 p.m. MT
Saturday: New Mexico at Nevada, 3 p.m. MT.
GoLobos.com: Live video, live stats, post game interview, recaps and stats.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Lobo volleyball is on the road for the second straight weekend and the third weekend in September, heading to San Josè State and Nevada to start Mountain West action.
SJSU finished in ninth place of the MW with a 5-15 record, 8-23 overall. This season, the Spartans are picked to finish 10th in front of Nevada. The Lobos lead the all-time series against SJSU, 8-3. Last season, the Lobos defeated the Spartans 3-1 at SJSU on Oct. 19 and 3-0 at Johnson Center on Nov. 27.
Nevada is expected to finish 11th in the conference for 2014. In 2013, the Wolf Pack finished last with a 2-18 MW record, 4-28 overall. The Lobos are undefeated all-time against Nevada and swept the Wolf Pack last season twice at Johnson Center on Oct. 26 and at Nevada on Nov. 23.
Over last weekend at the SMU Invitational, the Lobos finished with a 2-1 record and was the runner up at the SMU Invitational. They claimed a 3-1 win over College of Charleston, a three-set sweep of Houston Baptist and suffered a five-set heartbreaker to SMU.
The SMU match was an exciting one to watch if you were in the stands as the two teams traded points for most the of the match. The Lobos dropped the first two sets but pulled together to win the next two sets by two points each. In the final and fifth set, the Lobos led for most of the set but a few hitting errors caused the set and the match to go in the favor of the Mustangs.
Heading into conference play, the Lobos are in the top five of three categories in the conference. The Lobos are second in holding their opponents to a low hitting percentage at .137. They also are second in blocks per set, tallying at least three a set. The final category is digs per set. They are fifth, averaging 14.14 digs per set through their 12 nonconference matches.
RIDDLE, JOHNSON NAMED TO SMU ALL-TOURNAMENT TEAM
Senior Chantale Riddle and redshirt junior Hannah Johnson were both named to the SMU All-Tournament team after both tallying three straight double-doubles for the weekend.
Riddle was definitely the MVP for the Lobos as she tallied a total of 51 kills, 47 digs, 19 blocks and a .294 hitting percentage for the weekend. In the Lobos’ 3-1 win over College of Charleston, Riddle had 12 kills and tied her season-high in digs with 18. Against Houston Baptist, she collected 12 kills and 16 digs but her best game of the weekend came against SMU. She tallied a career-high of 27 kills, dug 13 balls and picked up eight blocks, making her two blocks short of a triple-double. Over the three matches, she averaged 4.25 kills per set, a .294 hitting percentage, 3.92 digs per set, 1.58 blocks per set and 5.21 points per set.
Johnson also was a huge asset to the Lobos’ squad. She tallied three straight double-doubles, making a total of six double-doubles for the season, which is second in the Mountain West. She recorded a total of 116 assists and 38 digs to go along with 10 kills. She finished the 3-1 win over Charleston with 36 assists and 12 digs. In the win over Houston Baptist, she had 28 assists and 12 digs and in the SMU match she totaled 52 assists in the five sets to go along with 14 digs.
RIDDLE LEADS LEAGUE IN BLOCKS & POINTS
Senior Chantale Riddle has been a blocking machine in all of the Lobos’ nonconference matches. Heading into conference play this weekend, she is leading the conference with 1.60 blocks per game. That’s not the only category that she is leading. She also leads the league in points, averaging 4.38 per set. She is third in kills per set with 3.60.
WARREN, GULLATT RECORD FIRST DOUBLE-DOUBLES
Sophomore Julia Warren and Junior Skye Gullatt recorded their first double-doubles of the season at the SMU Invitational. Warren, who has been battling a illness to start the season, put together 10 kills and 11 blocks. Gullatt stepped up in the SMU match to record 11 kills and 10 BIG blocks. Gullatt is fifth in the conference with a .357 hitting percentage.
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 matches, 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 owned a total of 1,275 kills after tallying 35.
If Riddle has weekends like the SMU tournament, she is definitely going to put up big numbers. She tallied 51 kills for the weekend to move her total up to 1,326. She is now 253 kills off to tie the record and 254 kills to break the record.
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, three wins at the MCM Elegante Lobo Invitational and two wins at the SMU Invite, Nelson is now 15 wins away from his 400th career win.