When: Nevada, Thur. at 7:30 p.m. MT | San Diego State, Sat. at 7 p.m. MT
Where: Virginia Street Gym, Reno, Nev. | Peterson Gym, San Diego, Calif.
GoLobos.com: Recaps, Results, PhotosMatch Notes | Nevada Live Stats & Live Stream | SDSU Live Stats & Live Stream
Two weeks ago, New Mexico was 2-3 in the Mountain West and looking up at five other teams in the conference standings.
This week, the Lobos are playing for second place.
The University of New Mexico volleyball team is hitting the road aiming to move up the Mountain West standings in a pair of key conference matches at Nevada and San Diego State this weekend.
After sweeping its home slate last weekend, New Mexico (11-9, 4-3 MW) is in position to climb further up the conference standings when it plays the Wolf Pack on Thursday and the Aztecs on Saturday.
“We’ve got a big clump after first place [in the MW] and we’ve got four teams with two and three losses,” UNM head coach Jeff Nelson said. “So the next two weeks will tell a lot.”
Start off that two-week stretch with wins at Nevada (8-12, 3-5 MW) and San Diego State (6-14, 3-5), and the Lobos could find themselves alone in second place in the conference at the halfway point.
And making it into that second spot is certainly possible if UNM can continue its streak from last weekend.
New Mexico had one of its best weekends of the season at home this past week, toppling Fresno State and UNLV in convincing fashion at Johnson Center. The Lobos were never truly threatened in either match (save a 1-1 tie vs. UNLV), and captured their first undefeated week of the year.
“I felt like we really felt like we controlled the match and did some good things and just really got some players back clicking that we needed,” Nelson said.
UNM had a chance at another faultless week earlier in the season, as well, but that was spoiled right off the bat in a 3-0 loss to the same San Diego State team the Lobos will face Saturday.
However, New Mexico rebounded nicely is it first match of the season vs. Nevada on Sept. 26, winning 3-1 to extend their series advantage to 7-0 over the Wolf Pack.
The Lobos will look their their rejuvenated offense and improved defense during this week’s trip.
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| Cassie House |
Cassie House led the team with 29 kills last weekend, and has been spearheading New Mexico’s offense over the past three matches.
Although Devanne Sours (233 kills) and Julia Warren (169) still lead UNM’s outside hitters in kills, House has provided another option for the Lobos on the outside.
“Cassie House has big output this weekend,” Nelson said. “Finally, she really picked up her game.”
Combined with strong play from middle blockers Skye Gullatt (20 kills and nine blocks last week) and SImone Henderson (19 kills, 8 blocks last week), and New Mexico’s offense is rounding into form.
Defensively, the Lobos have stabilized their libero play behind Ashley Kelsey, who started and stayed at libero in both matches last week. Setter Hannah Johnson has also been playing superb floor defense and is still keying UNM’s offense.
Johnson, who has 3,739 career assists, is just 56 assists from the second-highest total in program history.
On the other side of the net, Nevada enters this week with an 8-12 record, but just broke a three-game skid against Utah State last Saturday.
“They have a new coach this year and are really improved and just battling really well,” Nelson said.
The Wolf Pack are one of the worst MW teams defensively, but lead the league in serving. The Wolf Pack’s duo of Madisons (Madison Morell and Madison Foley), leads Nevada in kills with 260 and 236, respectively. They’re both also top three for Nevada in digs and aces.
Foley had 17 kills in the last meeting between Nevada and New Mexico, while Morell added 11 and middle blocker Sam Willoughby 10.
San Diego State comes into its match vs. New Mexico with a 6-14 overall record (second-worst in the Mountain West) but a 3-5 conference record that ranks the Aztecs a half a game out of 6th.
Five Aztecs are averaging between 1.80 and 2.55 kills per set, with Deja Harris (165 kills), Baylee Little (149) and Alexandra Psoma (128) leading the group. Harris was the Lobos’ nemesis in the first meeting this season, as she posted 15 kills and a .700 hitting percentage.
“We have three teams that we just really like to play long matches and sometimes bad matches with — this is one of them,” Nelson said. “So we’re really going to focus this week on what we can do to be successful out there and get it done.”
New Mexico takes on Nevada at 7:30 p.m. MT at the Virginia Street Gym in Reno before heading up to Peterson Gym in San Diego for a 7 p.m.MT match vs. San Diego State.
Follow the links at the top for the broadcast and live stats, and follow @unmvolley on Twitter for in-game updates.