Lobos set to open play in unpredictable Mountain West
UNM coach says six teams have a shot to win conference
It’s easy to call a conference race “wide open” before it starts. It happens pretty much every year.
The description seems apt, however, as far as the 2016 Mountain West volleyball race is concerned. Ten of the 11 teams have winning records going into this week’s conference openers, and perennial power Colorado State is in the middle of the pack at 6-5.
Wide open? University of New Mexico coach Jeff Nelson thinks so.
“Everyone had a good preseason,” he said, “so it’s going to be a battle all the way through. I think there are six teams that can win the conference and all 11 are competitive.”
Nelson’s Lobos seem a perfect example of the league’s unpredictability. UNM (9-4) has posted some quality wins, played competitively against top-ranked Nebraska, and has suffered some head-scratching losses.
New Mexico appears to have the goods to be a Mountain West title contender but has lacked the necessary consistency to this point.
“We’ve got to learn from our mistakes and be 100 percent in for every single point,” junior libero Ashley Kelsey said. “We have the potential to be really successful, but we need to show more consistency at every position. We need to do a better job minimizing our bad runs.”
Such became apparent at last week’s UT Arlington tournament, when UNM battled for solid wins over Houston Baptist and the host Mavericks on Friday. The Lobos then let a 2-1 sets advantage get away in an eventual loss to Samford before finishing with a win over UTEP.
“Samford was a match we should have won,” Nelson said. “We’ve had a couple like that where we let down and ended up paying for it. I hope we learned our lesson because letdowns are going to be losses in conference.”
UNM should get an immediate taste of how competitive the Mountain West race will be this weekend. The Lobos host Air Force tonight and entertain Boise State on Saturday. All three are 9-4.
Air Force is off to a solid start under firstyear coach Marc Swindle, a UNM graduate who spent two seasons as a volunteer assistant with the Lobos after coaching club and prep volleyball in Albuquerque for more than 20 years. He spent the past six seasons at Air Force as an assistant to former UNM coach Matt McShane.
The Falcons have just one senior, one junior and 12 combined sophomores and freshmen. Two of the freshmen are from New Mexico: middle blocker Bianca Walker is from Roswell and attended New Mexico Military Institute, and outside hitter Alina Vanecek is an Albuquerque Academy graduate.
Cassie House and Julia Warren have paced the Lobos, but Devanne Sours and Victoria Spragg elevated their play last week in Arlington. Both were named to the all-tournament team. Setter Carson Heilborn and Kelsey at libero also had strong performances, Nelson said.
“We’re definitely excited to start conference, especially here at Johnson Center,” Kelsey said. “It’s time for this team to make our name and show we’re the team to beat.”
NMSU: The 9-4 Aggies open Western Athletic Conference play at home tonight at 7 against Seattle (7-6). The match airs live on Fox Sports Arizona and Altitude and will stream on ESPN3.com.