New Mexico Lobos Volleyball – at San Diego State & UNLV
Thursday: New Mexico at San Diego State, 7 p.m. MT/6 p.m. PT
Saturday: New Mexico at UNLV, 7 p.m. MT./6 p.m. PT
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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – After having another solid weekend of two conference wins, the University of New Mexico volleyball team will look to stay undefeated in conference action as they travel to San Diego State and UNLV this week.
Last week’s matches featured a five-set thrilling victory over Utah State. The Lobos took game one 25-21 but lost the next two 20-25 and 28-30. The team pulled together and played tough the next two set to come out on top in each 25-20 and 15-12 for the match win.
The Lobos had a completely different match with Boise State, taking the match in three straight sets for their eighth sweep of the season. New Mexico dominated in the first two sets by scores of 25-13 and 25-18. Boise State started to get a groove going in the third set but costly errors gave the final set to the Lobos 29-27.
This week the Lobos will look to continue their winning streak against San Diego State, who is currently sixth in the Mountain West with a 1-2 record. They are 5-8 on the season. Last week they suffered two losses to Wyoming and No. 7 Colorado State. They took set one from Wyoming but it wasn’t enough as Wyoming came back to win 25-20, 25-13 and 25-20 for the match win. Against Colorado State, the Aztecs dropped three straight sets by scores of 25-22, 25-21 and 25-16.
When looking at the SDSU lineup, there are a couples players the Lobos will have to look to stop. Ciara Brown is hitting .248 for the season and has a total of 115 kills while Kalle Aiken has 116 kills. As a team, the Aztecs are hitting .159 for the season and is ninth in the conference with a .161 hitting percentage for only league matches. They are averaging 14.68 digs per set, 2.02 blocks per set, 1.36 aces per set, 11.04 assists per set and 12.36 kills per set.
UNLV might be the tougher matchup for the Lobos this week as the Rebels are 13-5 on the season and sixth in the MW with a 1-2 record. UNLV also dropped two matches to No. 7 Colorado State and Wyoming. The Rebels claimed a set victory over the Rams but it wasn’t enough to take the match. They suffered a sweep by Wyoming with scores of 25-22, 25-17 and 25-19.
The team is hitting .244 on the season with a hitting percentage of .161 in conference matches. They are collecting 14.70 digs per et, 3.06 blocks per set, 12.85 kills per set and 11.84 assist per set. Alyssa Wing is leading the team with 160 kills while Kaitlin Winters has the best hitting percentage on the squad at .347 and is blocking the best at 1.11 per set.
RANKING NATIONALLY…After last week’s matches, the Lobos moved up nationally in two categories. Last week the Lobos were ranked ninth in blocks per set with 3.04 but this week, the Lobos moved up to fifth in the country with 3.14 blocks per set. They were 11th nationally in opposing hitting percentage at .129 but this week they moved up to fourth in the nation at .127.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE JOHNSON…Over the weekend, Hannah Johnson recorded her seventh and eighth double-doubles of the season. Against Utah State she put together a career performance with a career-high 55 assists. She also tallied 11 digs and five blocks. Against Boise State, she had 30 assists and 13 digs. She is 3rd in the conference with eight double-doubles. On the season, Johnson is averaging 9.61 assists which is seventh in the league.
GETTING HER GROOVE BACK…Sophomore Cassie House is slowly getting her groove back after struggle in nonconference matches. Over the last four matches, she has stepped up tremendously and put away kills for the Lobos. In Thursday’s match against Utah State she recorded a season-high of 17 kills to go along with a .257 hitting percentage on the outside. Against Boise State, she tallied 11 kills for a .304 hitting percentage.
SWITCHING TO LIBERO…Sophomore Maddie Mayfield switched to the Libero position over the weekend and had an excellent outing against Boise State. She recorded a career-high of 17 digs.
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 which moved her total up to 1,326. Her big weekends continue as she tallied 27 total kills in the first two matches of conference against SJSU and Nevada. She tallied a total of 32 kills against Utah State and Boise State. Her total number of kills on the season is 203 which brings her career total to 1,385. She is now 194 kills away from 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, two wins at the SMU Invite and four wins to start league, Nelson is now just 11 wins away from the 400 club.