Lobos Split Friday Competition at Arizona
TUCSON, Ariz.— The University of New Mexico beach volleyball team extended its win streak to three matches on Friday, after defeating Santa Clara, 5-0, but saw the streak come to an end in a close contest against Ottawa University Arizona, 3-2, at Bear Down Beach on the campus of the University of Arizona.
In the first match of the day against Santa Clara, UNM won all five matchups with all but one going in straight-set wins.
On court five, Jaclyn Inclan and Claire Nenninger were the first dual to finish, winning an easy first set 21-8 before taking the second set in a 21-15 win. Abbey Willison and Emily Nenninger needed three sets to capture the team point after dropping the first set in a close 21-19 decision. In the second set, the Lobo duo came out on top, winning 21-16 to force a third set, to which they won 15-9 to make it 2-0 UNM.
Morgan Schreckler and Yasmin Tan clinched the team win for UNM on court two, taking the first set 21-10 and edged out their Bronco opponent 22-20 in the second set to end the contest.
UNM pair Carly Beddingfield and Joey Benson kept Santa Clara off the board with a 21-15, 21-19 straight-set win on court three and Dali Rosado and Lauren Twitty closed the match with a 21-12, 21-15 win on court No. 1 to complete the sweep for UNM.
Friday’s match against the Broncos marked the sixth time this season that the Lobos have won in a 5-0 decision.
With the win, Twitty and Rosado won their last eight matches, putting them tied for third in program history for the longest match win streak for a UNM pair, tying a streak that Twitty had with Eastyn Baleto in 2018.
In the second match against OUAZ, the Lobos split the first two team points on courts four and five before the Spirit responded with the next two court wins to claim the match.
Both courts four and five went three sets, with Willison and E. Nenninger finishing first in a 21-11, 14-21, 15-9 victory to give UNM its first point of the match. With the two wins on Friday, E. Nenninger and Willison have won their last four matches as the fourth court pairing.
Inclan and C. Nenninger dropped the first set 15-21, before rallying back to take the second set 21-17 and dropped a 15-12 third-set to put OUAZ on the board.
Twitty and Rosado saw their eight-match win streak come to an end, falling 21-18, 21-13 on the first court to give OUAZ its second team point and a 2-1 lead. It was also just the duo’s fifth loss of the season.
The Spirit recorded the clinching point with a 21-19, 21-16 win on court two over Schreckler and Tan.
Beddingfield and Benson were in a close match on the third court, taking the first set by a 21-19 margin and won in another close battle in the second set by a score of 21-17 for the straight-set victory to close the match.
UNM closes out the Wildcat Spring Challenge and the season with two morning matches on Saturday, starting with a 10:15 a.m. match with host and No. 13 Arizona before facing Ottawa University Arizona again at 11:30 a.m. Live stats will be available and can be found HERE.