When: San Diego State, Thursday at 7 p.m. | Nevada, Saturday at 1 p.m.
Where: Johnson Center in Albuquerque, N.M.
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As the Lobos can attest, losing the first two sets of a volleyball match usually isn’t the way to start a match.
So as they start conference play with two matches, the goal is simple: Start fast.
The University of New Mexico volleyball team looks to open up Mountain West play with a pair of wins this week as it hosts San Diego State on Thursday and Nevada on Saturday at Johnson Center.
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After closing out the tournament portion of their schedule with a 7-5 record, the Lobos are eyeing a fast start for their conference season when the Aztecs (3-9) and the Wolf Pack (5-7) come to Albuquerque.
“Our job now has to be to win the conference or maybe finish second,” New Mexico head coach Jeff Nelson said. “… We have some good matches ahead of us, but we’ve got to really focus on the conference and doing well.”
New Mexico picked up some good wins during non-conference play in their pursuit of a NCAA bid, but has fallen short of capturing more wins in a trio of five-set losses.
The Lobos’ habit of starting slow foiled such an attempt last Saturday at the Days Inn and Suites Lobo Invitational when they surrendered a two-set lead to LSU en route to losing in five.
“We’re 7-5 and we think we should be 10-2,” Nelson said. “And it’s just really a slow start. … We’ve had two matches where we’ve out-statted our opponents in every statistic and not won because of the slow start in game one and two.”
But the Lobos have an opportunity to capture a fast start to their conference season when they host San Diego State and Nevada. Both are in the bottom three of the 11-team Mountain West standings, as Nevada sits ninth and SDSU 11th.
The Aztecs have been swept in seven of their 12 matches and rank among the bottom four in the MW in a number of key statistical categories, including blocks (ninth), hitting percentage (10th), digs (10th) and opponent hitting percentage (11th).
Baylee Little (92 kills, 13 aces) and Deja Harris (88 kills, 42 total blocks) are the main point scorers for SDSU coach Deitre Collins-Parker, who is relying on setter Hailey Jones, a transfer from Irvine Valley College, to replace last year’s starters. Both Jones and Lobo Marisa Doran played for IVC from 2013-14.
Defensively, San Diego State has been largely ineffective, yielding a .239 success rate to its opponents — a number that ranks SDSU 275th out 329 Division I schools.
“They’re 3-9 right now,” Nelson said, “but we always have a great rivalry with them so it’s a good match for us to start with.”
Nevada is more a defensive challenge than SDSU, but suffers offensively. The Wolf Pack rank ninth in the MW in hitting percentage and 10th in the MW in both assists per set and kills per set.
The Wolf Pack’s duo of Madisons (Madison Morell and Madison Foley), leads Nevada in kills with 268 of the team’s 505 total kills, but neither convert a high percentage of their attempts. Morell is hitting just .130, while Foley isn’t much more successful at .161.
However, the duo cleans up a lot of balls, as Morell has collected 123 digs while Foley 127. Setter Taylar Rothfuss ranks second in the MW in assists/set (9.97) and fifth in blocks/set (1.06), and libero Kara Kasser is seventh in digs/set (3.72).
New Mexico, currently ranked fifth in the MW, is just above par with its rankings in the conference stats. The Lobos are fourth in a bevy of categories — including hitting percentage, kills, blocks, digs and opponent hitting percentage — and rank second in aces.
Senior setter Hannah Johnson has been the most consistent Lobo lately, and put together a splendid all-around performance last weekend. She hit .469 with 17 kills, and dished out 111 assists to go with 40 digs and 12 blocks.
“Hannah Johnson had another great weekend,” Nelson said. “She put up good numbers and made her fourth all-tournament team in a row and just did a great job leading our team.”
Devanne Sours and Julia Warren have also been leading New Mexico, as Sours continues to rack up the kills and Warren the double-doubles.
Sours currently ranks fourth in the MW in kills/set and had a career-best 22 against LSU, while Warren tallied three double-doubles in three matches last weekend.
The Lobos match vs. San Diego State is slated for a 7 p.m. MT start, while first serve vs. Nevada is at 1 p.m. MT. The Nevada match was originally schedule for 2 p.m., but was moved up to accommodate Nevada’s travel schedule.