Perfection not enough this time
Lobos fell to No. 2 despite perfect run at league meet
Lost in the run-up to Friday’s Mountain Regional cross country meet in Provo, Utah, is this: Between the UNM women’s overwhelming home victory in the Mountain West Conference meet two weeks ago and now, the Lobos lost their grasp of the No. 1 ranking.
It was a case of perfect apparently wasn’t good enough. After taking the top seven spots in the league meet, UNM slipped to No. 2 in the Nov. 2 coaches’ poll behind North Carolina State, which was nearly as dominant (20 points, a perfect score like UNM’s is 15) in winning the ACC meet.
UNM had wrested the top spot away from N.C. State with an actual head-to-head victory in Wisconsin’s Nuttycombe meet on Oct. 15.
Anyway, the Mountain Regional is one of nine taking place nationwide. Saturday (3 p.m., streaming at NCAA.com), teams will be selected either by automatic qualifying (top two from each regional) or at-large bids (13 more), for which the Lobo women seem assured.
New Mexico State also is competing in Provo. The Aggie women finished fourth and the Aggie men eighth at the Western Athletic Conference championships on May 30.
VOLLEYBALL: UNM announced four additions in the signing period that began Wednesday, including 6-foot-3 Eldorado star Sydney Moore, in a class that coach Jon Newman-Gonchar called “incredible.” Others were libero Kailee Gims of Houston, Lea Zurlinden of Fribourg, Switzerland, and Lauryn Payne of Leesburg, Va.
And on Thursday night, the Lobos were defeated by UNLV 3-1 at Johnson Gym, a match that was critical to UNM’s Mountain West Conference tournament aspirations. The teams came in tied for fifth with 17-8, 8-6 records, with the top six qualifying for the league tournament. Match scores were 25-16 25-20, 19-25 and 25-15.
New Mexico State (18-8, 9-4 WAC) lost a five-set match at home Wednesday to UTEP despite 25 kills from Katie Birtcil. It is the first time since 2001 that UTEP swept the Aggies.
The Aggies will be back at home Saturday at 1 p.m. vs. Chicago State (16-8, 8-4) with a chance to claim the WAC’s West Division regular-season title. The Aggies and Grand Canyon (17-5, 9-4) are tied for the lead.
SOFTBALL: UNM has added five players: Outfielders Selese Compian (Rosenberg, Texas), Evany Gonzales (Alvin, Texs) and Keyannah Chavez (Leander, Texas), pitcher Bella Mtichell (Las Vegas, Nevada) and catcher Grace Rana (Queen Creek, Arizona).
Alamogordo’s Kendal Lunar, a catcher who hit .518 with eight homers in 17 games as a junior this past spring, is one of two New Mexico State signees. The other is Devi Elam of Long Beach, California, a catcher and first baseman.
GOLF: New Mexico State’s men signed Eastwood (El Paso) product Javi Delgadillo Thursday afternoon. He is ranked 99th overall in the AJGA Rolex Rankings.