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Back on the road, the Lobos are looking to get back to the top.
The University of New Mexico volleyball team heads to California this week aiming for momentum as it plays a pair of matches against San José State and Fresno State in its first Mountain West road trip of the season.
After splitting its conference-opening slate last week, the Lobos (10-5, 1-1 Mountain West) are looking to pick up some key road wins when they face the Spartans (7-7, 0-2) on Thursday and the Bulldogs (9-4, 0-2) on Saturday.
“Hopefully we can have a great road trip,” 10th-year New Mexico head coach Jeff Nelson said. “If you’re getting a split or even getting wins here and there on the road, it’s big right now because the Mountain West is so balanced. All but one team have winning records right now.”
This week’s slate presents a tough challenge for the Lobos in the parity-driven MW of 2016, where every team is at least one game within .500 through one month of the season.
Along with the fifth-place Lobos, two other teams in the 11-team league are 1-1 in MW play, while there are four teams undefeated in MW play and four teams winless in MW play.
Without much separation between the top and bottom of the conference, the Lobos must capitalize on every opportunity they have. After opening with a 1-1 league record at home, capturing a pair of road wins would help as the conference season progresses.
After this weekend, New Mexico plays four of its next five matches at home, but the first three of that homestand are against three undefeated MW teams, Colorado State, Wyoming and 13-1 UNLV.
Any effort the Lobos put forth this week will likely have to be without team captain Julia Warren, who missed both of UNM’s matches last week and is still day-to-day with a knee injury.
Although Nelson and his staff are hopeful Warren, a senior outside hitter from Albuquerque, might be able to play this weekend, her status is still uncertain.
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| Victoria Spragg & Lauren Twitty |
But UNM still had success last week, relying on fellow outside hitters Cassie House and Devanne Sours for production at the pins.
House finished the weekend with 31 kills and has a team-high 187 kills on the season. Through one week of conference play, House ranks second in the MW in points per set and fifth in kills per set. Sours has logged 149 kills and 95 digs on the year.
“Cassie’s been playing really good ball,” Nelson said. “She’s stepped up. Devanne’s doing a lot of things. She’s taking on a lot of a leadership role.”
Along with libero Ashley Kelsey (246 digs) and middle blocker Victoria Spragg (84 kills, 61 blocks) the Lobos have received steady play from a handful of their starters.
Freshmen Lauren Twitty, inserted as the Lobos’ full-rotation outside hitter, has also made the most of her opportunities, posting nine kills vs. Boise State last week.
“She’s playing pretty well,” Nelson said of Twitty. “She’s getting good numbers. I think they could be better. But I think she’s doing her best and I think on down the road, it’ll be really helpful.”
On the other side of the net, New Mexico will have to contend with a pair of solid teams.
San José State has opened the season with a solid 7-7 record, including a 7-5 mark in nonconference play. SJSU won the Spartan Invitational to open the season, but the Spartans started Mountain West play with a pair of 3-0 setbacks at Wyoming and Colorado State.
New Mexico has dominated the all-time series vs. the Spartans, going 12-3. The Lobos have won the last nine contests, and have never lost to San José State in San Jose, going 6-0. UNM has swept four of the last five meetings.
“San José is an interesting team to play,” Nelson said. “They play a lot of different lineups and do a lot of different things. So it’s not quite as easy to scout and prepare for them.”
Fresno State posted a strong 9-2 record in nonconference play, winning five in a row to start the season and four straight before Mountain West play started. However, the Bulldogs dropped two road matches to open league play, falling 3-1 to Colorado State and 3-0 to Wyoming.
“Fresno kind of the surprise team right now,” Nelson said. “They’re playing really well. They’ll be tough on the road, they always are. And that’s one where we’re really going to have to work hard to get.”
Overall, the series between the Lobos and the Bulldogs is a dead heat, tied 11-11. The series goes back to the 1980s when both schools were in the WAC, but after co-founding the MW in 1999, UNM played Fresno State just once until the Bulldogs joined the MW in 2012.
The Bulldogs are 4-3 since then, but UNM swept the season series last year, winning both matches in three sets.
Fans can follow @UNMVolley on Twitter and Instagram for information and updates on the team!