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Friday • 1 p.m. MT
Friday • 5 p.m. MT
Saturday • 11 a.m. MTBack where the season started, the Lobos are ready to write a fitting end to their year.
The University of New Mexico beach volleyball team is looking to close its 2018 campaign this weekend with some more wins as it heads to back to Tucson to play three matches at the Bear Down Bash hosted by Arizona.
Returning the scene of their season-opening tournament, the Lobos (8-12) will face off against the 14th-ranked Wildcats (16-10), Benedictine at Mesa (9-8) and Utah (2-8) at the Arizona Beach Volleyball Courts for their final matches of 2018.
This weekend’s season-capping slate provides New Mexico a chance to finish an uneven year on a high note.
After opening the season with a schedule filled with ranked teams and a 2-9 record, UNM battled back to play some of its best volleyball of the season en route to registering five wins over six matches.
And while their momentum stalled last weekend, the Lobos are in position to pick up a few more victories and send out their inaugural freshman class on top.
The two members of that class, Eastyn Baleto and Chloe Crappell, have led New Mexico throughout 2018, helping develop a youthful roster that entered the season with seven newcomers and a significant deficit in experience.
But, behind their senior class that also features Maddie Irwin, the Lobos have forged a strong lineup capable of a strong performance this week in Tucson.
The Lobos’ hottest pair sits at the top of that lineup, as Irwin & Erin Martin stormed to four straight wins last weekend in Kingsville, Texas.
Named to the Javelina Battle on the Beach All-Tournament Team, Irwin & Martin own a share of the team lead in wins this season with a 12-8 record.
Also sharing that lead is New Mexico’s second-seeded tandem of Baleto & Lauren Twitty, which sits 12-5 on the season and has won 11 of its last 14 matches.
Baleto & Twitty, who were also named to the Javelina Battle on the Beach All-Tournament Team, own an eight-match winning streak this season, which is the third-longest in program history.
Down the lineup, UNM has relied on numerous pairs, but found a recipe for success it honed over its run of success during late March and early April.
Crappell & Yasmin Tan have gone 7-8 on the season, but are a stellar 7-3 from the No. 3 position.
Additionally, Carly Beddingfield & Mercedes Pacheco have also provided key points throughout the season, while Abbey Willison & Kayla Long have shown well playing from the No. 5 position.
But, in order to cap their season with a bang, the Lobos will need all of their partnerships to click at the same time, especially considering some of the competition they’re facing this week.
UNM and Arizona square off for their eighth meeting all-time, with the Wildcats having yet to yield a match to the Lobos. Arizona enter this week’s match ranked 14th in both the AVCA and DiG Magazine polls, and has been ranked in all seven of the previous meetings in the series.
For this week’s contest, the 16-10 Wildcats enter losers of two in a row, with all of their losses in 2018 coming against ranked teams.
An NAIA school from Mesa, Arizona, Benedictine enters the week 9-8. 12 of the Redhawks’ 17 matches came against non-Division I competition, and Benedictine only went 7-5 in those matches.
Utah heads to Tucson with a 2-8 record this season, having started their 2018 campaign two weeks ago on April 7. Over that span, the Utes’ only two wins came against CSU Bakersfield and Long Beach City College, but they’ve faced a challenging schedule that’s featured six matches against ranked teams.
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