New Mexico vs. Grand Canyon — Albuquerque, N.M.
When: Saturday, March 21
Who: Grand Canyon at 10 a.m. & 2 p.m.
Where: StoneFace Courts in Albuquerque
Tickets: $5 Admission
The Lobos have played their first-ever matches and captured the program’s first-ever win. Now it’s time to cross the first-ever home match off the list.
The University of New Mexico sand volleyball team is continuing its inaugural season Saturday when it hosts Grand Canyon University for two matches in the first-ever home competitions for the young program.
The Lobos (1-1) are taking on the Antelopes (2-2) in a doubleheader at StoneFace Courts in Albuquerque as New Mexico looks to see where it stacks up against an experienced team on the road toward developing its own program.
“Grand Canyon is one team we can measure up to,” head coach Jeff Nelson said. “It’s a team that can be a standard for us.”
The Lopes, who are in their third year of competition, present a strong challenge for the young Lobos, who are starting the university’s 22nd intercollegiate sport this season. New Mexico is just two weeks removed from opening its debut season, and has played all of two competitive matches.
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| Eastyn Baleto |
This weekend’s doubleheader, which features matches at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., will provide a legitimate litmus test for Nelson’s Lobos.
Grand Canyon is deep and has strong pairs in the top two positions, Nelson said, and the Lopes have experience on New Mexico, too.
But, the Lobos were solid in the first matches in program history — at the GCU Sand Courts on the campus of Grand Canyon, as it were — as the Lobos topped TCU after falling to LSU.
New Mexico was right in there during its loss to the more-seasoned Tigers from Baton Rouge, and rebounded with a drubbing of TCU, a fellow first-year program.
“Everybody got a win the first weekend, so we’ve gotton over the nerves,” Nelson said. “I thought we were really nervous against LSU. I thought that was a match, if we had a couple more weeks, we might have gotten.”
And this week, playing the friendly confines of StoneFace Courts, the Lobos look to continue playing with poise when they take on Grand Canyon.
Leading the charge is the No. 1 duo of Ashley Kelsey and Devanne Sours, two of the eight crossover players from New Mexico’s strong court volleyball team.
The pair split its matches against LSU and TCU, but were close to knocking off LSU after forcing a decisive third set in their match against the Tigers.
Right behind in the No. 2 position is the only pair to beat LSU, as Eastyn Baleto and Julia Warren won every match they played two weeks ago. Hannah Johnson and Chloe Crappell, New Mexico’s No. 1 double on opening day, take the No. 3 spot, followed by Ashley Newman, the team’s captain, and Lise Rugland in the fourth position.
Rounding out New Mexico’s lineup is Sara Weber and Maddie Mayfield in the No. 5 position.
Like Grand Canyon, the Lobos have depth. New Mexico’s top four doubles are all fairly on par with each other, as evidenced by the shifting between positions from two weeks ago.
None of the top four pairs are in the same position as they started in, with Kelsey and Sours moving up one spot and Baleto and Warren climbing two. Johnson and Crappell moved from the No. 1 doubles to No. 3, while Newman and Rugland moved from No. 3 to No. 4.
But this shifting is hardly an indictment of the caliber of players in those positions (or even the No. 5 spot, where Weber and Mayfield played vs. LSU), but instead is an indication of the depth.
“I think our partnerships are good,” Nelson said. “I don’t think we’ll see a lot of changes moving forward.”
After this weekend, the lineups will start to solidify as NCAA rules prohibiting pairs moving up or down more than one position come into effect after Saturday’s match.
On the other side of the net, Grand Canyon hasn’t changed its lineup much so far this year.
The Lopes have used the same five pairs in the same order for every match this season. Grand Canyon’s No. 1 pair of Mackenzie Phelps and Shannon Dugan is 2-2 this season, as is the Lopes’ No. 2 squad of Molly Turner and Emilee Erichsen.
On the court, Grand Canyon heads into its match with the Lobos sporting an even 2-2 record, but lost to the top two teams in the nation this past weekend. The Lopes, who are ranked 18th in the most recent DiG Magazine Collegiate Sand Volleyball Poll, lost 4-1 to No. 1 Hawai’i and 5-0 to second-ranked Pepperdine at the USAV Chula Vista Tournament in Chula Vista, Calif.
However, Grand Canyon won both of its matches vs. LSU and TCU two weeks ago, beating the Tigers 3-2 and sweeping TCU 5-0 on its home courts.
For this weekend’s slate, the action starts at 10 a.m. with the even-numbered doubles (and an exhibition) and continues at 11 a.m. with the odd-number pairs. The same format will be used for the 2 p.m. match.
Admission costs $5, and fans can park in the lots east and south of StoneFace Courts, which is located west of StoneFace Tavern.
Fan can also follow @UNMSandVB on Twitter to keep track of New Mexico and check GoLobos.com Saturday evening for a full recap.