ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The University of New Mexico beach volleyball program and head coach Jeff Nelson have announced the 2016 beach volleyball schedule Wednesday.
New Mexico, entering year two of its beach volleyball program, will take on a schedule that features 25 games against a number of nationally competitive programs, including teams from schools in the Pac-12 Conference, SEC, ACC and Big 12 Conference.
“It’s a really full and really quality schedule,” Nelson said. “I think it’s really going to help our team grow. I think we improved a ton last year and this schedule is going to give us the opportunities to have a lot of success this year.”
New Mexico finished 3-11 last year in its inaugural season of beach volleyball, which is now in its first season as a NCAA championship sport.
In 2015, the Lobos played 11 matches against teams that were ranked in the national polls at one point during the season. This season, New Mexico has 12 matches scheduled vs. teams that finished last season nationally ranked, including No. 1 and defending national champion USC, No. 7 Florida State and No. 9 Arizona.
“This year’s schedule is much stronger than last year’s,” Nelson said. “I’m really excited about it. It’s going to be a lot of fun for our team and it’s going to be another great adventure.”
New Mexico opens its season at the Sun Devil Challenge, where they are scheduled to take on Arizona State, Florida State, South Carolina and Colorado Mesa.
FSU qualified to the eight-team AVCA Collegiate Sand Volleyball National Championship Tournament last season, while South Carolina finished last season ranked 17th. ASU, which beat UNM twice last season, finished 2015 receiving votes in the polls.
New Mexico is also scheduled to face on California on that trip.
The following week, the Lobos will head to Phoenix to play Grand Canyon and San José State on March 13 before travelling to Irvine, Calif., to play two matches at Irvine Valley College on March 14.
UNM will return home after that to host Arizona State and Colorado Mesa on March 18-19 for its lone set of home matches.
After that, the Lobos return to Arizona to participate in the Wildcat Spring Challenge on March 25-26 in Tucson, where they’ll face off against CSUN, CSU Bakersfield and Arizona.
UNM played CSU Bakersfield and Arizona last year, falling once to CSU Bakersfield and three times to Arizona. The Roadrunners finished last season ranked 20th, while Arizona finished ninth.
The Lobos will then take a week off to open April, but return to action with three matches in Sacramento, Calif., versus San José State, Pacific and Sacramento State on April 9-10. Pacific ended 2015 at No. 20.
New Mexico’s penultimate road trip takes them to Texas for three matches hosted by TCU on April 15-16. UNM will play defending national champion USC along with the University of Louisiana at Monroe and host TCU.
The season wraps up with a five-match affair in Louisiana from April 30 to May 1, as the Lobos play LSU, TCU, Tulane, New Orleans and Houston Baptist in Baton Rouge.
LSU, which finished last season receiving votes in the polls, will be a rematch of New Mexico’s first-ever match, a 4-1 Tiger win in Phoenix.
“I think in year two, we can have a winning season,” Nelson said. “All three coaches are really excited about it. It’s about a good a schedule as we could have put together.”
Dates and times for all of the matchup will be finalized as the season draws closer.