UNM Drop Contests to LMU and ASU to Close Opening Weekend
PHOENIX, Ariz.— The University of New Mexico beach volleyball team dropped its two matches on Saturday by identical scores of 5-0 to No. 15 Loyola Marymount and Arizona State.
The Lobos fall to 0-3 on the season after their season-opening weekend.
In the opening match against Loyola Marymount University, all but one court were straight-set defeats. Abbey Willison and Claire Nenninger took their opponents, Veronica Nederend and Erin Martin, to three sets after forcing the third set with a 21-18 win. The pair lost the third set, 15-11, for the 21-15, 18-21, 15-11 loss.
UNM’s no. 1 team of Lauren Twitty and Dali Rosado fell 21-16, 21-17, and Makayla Tam and Morgan Schreckler lost after identical set scores of 21-16 on court two.
Emily Nenninger and Jaclyn Inclan were defeated 21-12, 21-15 on the third court and court four’s pairing of Carly Beddingfield and Joey Benson fell 21-14, 21-17.
A short while later, the Lobos faced the Arizona State Sun Devils, where they also lost 5-0.
UNM won the opening set on courts one and three, with both courts playing to three sets.
On court one, Twitty and Rosado lost a close second set 21-18 after opening with a 21-16 set win and ultimately lost 15-11 in the decisive set.
Beddingfield and Benson opened their match on court three with a 21-13 but lost 21-14 in set two to force a third set. The pair would unfortunately drop the close third set, 17-15, to give the point to the Sun Devils.
Court five was the first court to finish, with C. Nenninger and Willison falling 21-16, 21-10.
E. Nenninger and Inclan lost a close first set on court four by the score of 22-20 before losing 21-11 in the second set.
The clinching point for ASU came from court two, with Cierra Flood and Ashley Wenz defeated UNM pair Tam and Tan 21-10, 21-16.
UNM travels to Kingsville, Texas next weekend for the Kingsville Tourney hosted by Texas A&M-Kingsville. The Lobos will face Louisiana-Monroe and Houston Baptist as 11 a.m. MT and 2 p.m. MT, respectively, on Friday. On Saturday, UNM will play Texas A&M-Kingsville at 8 a.m. MT before closing the weekend with Missouri Baptist at 10 a.m. MT.