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Two years ago, when the Lobos were just starting beach volleyball, the learning curve facing the team was monumental.
Not only were head coach Jeff Nelson and his team starting a new sport, they were also trying to figure out the best way to tackle it.
But, as the University of New Mexico beach volleyball team enters its third year of competition with two years of experience, Nelson and company have realized two things:
One, the learning curve is smaller.
Two, the expectations are bigger.
New Mexico beach volleyball opens its third season next week in Arizona with high expectations as it looks to translate its considerable experience and talent into continued success after breaking onto the national scene in 2016.
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| Cassie House |
After leaping up the national polls and into national prominence last season via a 17-9 record, the Lobos have plenty of momentum. That, coupled with a veteran lineup that returns seven starters, portends another season of success in the sand.
“In the past, we’ve been learning,” Nelson said. “We came out strong last year at the start and had a little breakdown in the middle, but, overall we had a really good year.
“Now we’re playing better ball in practice than we probably were at the end of the season last year because we have so much experience.”
That experience is evident up and down the Lobos’ roster. Within its projected opening-week lineup, New Mexico has five seniors and three juniors — all of whom have played extensively in the sand.
It’s a far cry from the team’s inaugural season, when UNM relied on 11 underclassmen who had never played beach volleyball collegiately.
But now New Mexico has experience in spades, especially in its top three pairs.
“I think as a whole group, newcomers and all, the level of competition and skill, we’re ahead of where we were at the end of last season,” senior Cassie House said. “We’ve made a lot of improvements throughout the year.”
House is expected to start in the Lobos’ No. 1 position with redshirt junior Ashley Kelsey for a second straight year, and both are tasked with leading New Mexico this season.
| Projected Starting Lineup Opening Weekend • Subject to Change |
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| 1: Cassie House & Ashley Kelsey | |
| 2: Lise Rugland & Devanne Sours | |
| 3: Marisa Doran & Eastyn Baleto | |
| 4: Julia Warren & Lauren Twitty | |
| 5: Jackie Baro & Carly Beddingfield | |
In beach volleyball’s format, every team’s top-seeded pairing faces its opponent’s top-seeded pairing, which means House & Kelsey will face off against the best tandems across the nation.
But the UNM duo, which went 11-10 together last season in their first action together, will present a formidable challenge for other teams, especially after a season bonding in the sand.
“Being able to play with her after playing with her last season and a whole indoor season, it just has done a lot for our chemistry,” House said about her partnership with Kelsey. “We’ve gotten a lot closer on and off the court. It makes us much more comfortable and stronger as a pair.”
Right behind in the No. 2 slot is the senior twosome of Devanne Sours & Lise Rugland, who also spent last season playing together.
That duo went 14-6 last season and had a run of 13 straight wins in completed matches. Sours and Rugland are some of the three-year veterans of this Lobo squad, so they’ll be looked upon for leadership during the season.
“Everyone has gotten a season under their belts except a couple of freshmen,” Sours said. “We’ve all had a few years of good experience and good touches.”
Beach season is upon us! We kicked off our 2017 season with our first practices of the year! #GoLobos https://t.co/fFR9zgNXHS pic.twitter.com/wYcRHe1tXI
— UNM Beach Volleyball (@UNMBeachVB) February 7, 2017
The Lobos’ No. 3 position will also be helmed by some experienced players in senior Marisa Doran & junior Eastyn Baleto. That partnership inarguably had one of the most successful season in the program’s short history, going 23-3 out of the No. 4 spot last season.
Although they’re the only pair out of New Mexico’s top three to move up a spot in the team’s lineup, Doran & Baleto had immense success last season, winning their first 14 matches of the season en route to four wins over pairs from nationally ranked teams.
“We have our top three positions back, we have seven starters back, and we feel like we’re much deeper,” Nelson said.
The Nos. 4 and 5 spots will likely be filled by the tandems of Lauren Twitty & Julia Warren and Carly Beddingfield & Jackie Baro, respectively, for the first weekend, but Nelson and his staff have depth with freshmen Lyric Ellison and Emily Nenninger.
Warren, the Lobos’ fifth senior, played all but one match last year in the No. 3 position, and will be joined by Twitty, a freshman who posted solid numbers indoors and has shown aptitude during preseason practices.
Baro, a junior who has been a mainstay of the program, will likely team up with Beddingfield, an Albuquerque native who transferred from Long Beach State.
All together, the Lobos’ lineup gives them the experience they’ll need to contend with a strong schedule.
“I think our entire schedule is really tough,” House said. “We see a lot of good teams. On all the teams we face, the top 3’s are all super solid. Last year, we got a taste of what we could do, this year we know what we can do and we’re looking to capitalize on it.”
Along with an opening weekend that features No. 12 Grand Canyon and a pair of teams — TCU and Loyola Marymount — that are receiving votes in the AVCA Preseason Poll, the Lobos have 12 matches against teams that are either ranked or receiving votes.
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| Devanne Sours |
That includes matches against No. 1 USC, No. 5 Hawai’i, No. 6 Arizona (twice), No. 8 Georgia State, No. 9 Stetson and No. 14 California.
“It’s a really good schedule for us,” Nelson said. “… We have our top-10 matches but we’ve got lot of matches [against teams ranked] between 8 and 15 that will really gauge us in terms of the season and how we’re progressing.”
But, for these Lobos, the progress is already apparent in other areas.
Behind Nelson and assistant coaches Pauline Manser and Daniel Foo, New Mexico has gone from a team that struggled to win matches in 2015 to a team that, as House said, is, “shooting for a postseason.”
“We want a postseason,” House said. “I think all of us will be disappointed it we don’t get it. So that’s what we’re working for.”
That quest for one of eight berths to the second-ever NCAA National Collegiate Beach Volleyball Championship starts next week in Arizona, and it will stretch across the nation from Hawaii to Florida.
But Nelson and his Lobos won’t be unprepared. Behind a roster that’s replete with talent and know-how, New Mexico has the pieces to make 2017 even better than 2016.
“The progression the program has made is great,” Nelson said. “Daniel and Pauline have done an amazing job with the day-to-day stuff of planning good practices and doing good drills. I think we’ve scheduled well. I think we really have a handle on what we need to do to be successful.”
Which, for a team just building in the sand two years ago, says quite a lot.
Fans can follow @UNMBeachVB on Twitter and Instagram to keep track of the Lobos!