Tickets just $3 for Sept. 23 game against TCU

Sept. 20, 2011
Lobo Volleyball – at home in the Mountain West

Who: Lobos vs. TCU
When/Where: 7 p.m., Friday – Johnson Center

Who: Lobos vs. Texas Tech
When/Where: 7 p.m., Monday – Johnson Center

Download Love Red Live Green Flyer (PDF)

Download TCU/Texas Tech Volleyball Notes (PDF)

ALBUQUERQUE , N.M. — The Lobos begin Mountain West play against the TCU Horned Frogs on Friday at 7 p.m. in Johnson Center. It’s Jam Johnson night against the Horned Frogs and the Lobos expect fans to show up in bunches. It will be the first conference game for both teams this season. Each team was picked to finish high in the MW coaches’ preseason poll, with UNM picked to finish second and TCU picked to finish fourth. The Lobos also battle Texas Tech 7 p.m. on Monday. This will be the first time coach Nelson has faced the school that gave him his head coaching start. Nelson coached at Texas Tech from 1995-02.

Jam Johnson and Love Red Live Green: The volleyball team would like to see fans show up in bunches for Jam Johnson night vs. TCU Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. Tickets will be sold at the low price of $3. Senior Kelly Williamson is putting together her “Love Red Live Green” campaign that night as well. The aim of the event it to have no trash generated during the game end up in the landfill, so there will be recycling and composting bins set up in place of all trash cans in the gym.

NEW MEXICO AT A GLANCE: The Lobos’ record is 7-3 after going 2-1 at the Pitt Blue and Gold Classic, beating Delaware, 3-1, Temple, 3-1 and losing to Pitt, 2-3 … Seniors Allison Buck and Ashley Rhoades were named to the All-Tournament Team for their performances … Buck set a new career-high in digs with 36 in the match with Delaware.

Last season, the Lobos made it to the NCAA Tournament for the second season in a row. The Lobos hadn’t made it to two consecutive postseasons since they did it in the 1993, `94 seasons, which happened to be the end of a five-year postseason run that spanned from 1990-94, and was subsequently the last time the Lobos were in the NCAA Tournament. With the appearance in 2009, the Lobos broke a drought of 14 years between trips to the national post-season. With last year’s postseason berth, UNM now has nine trips to the NCAA Tournament (1981, `88, `90, `91, `92, `93, `94, `09, 2010).

TCU AT A GLANCE: Fresh off winning the Seton Hall Invitational, their fourth straight tournament title, the TCU Horned Frogs continue to remain undefeated in 2011 with a record of 13-0. TCU is one of just eight undefeated teams in the country. The 13-0 start to the season breaks the previous school record of 9-0 for best start to a season. The Horned Frogs currently sit atop the Mountain West standings.

TEXAS TECH AT A GLANCE: The Red Raiders enter this weekend’s tournament boasting a 12-1 record, marking the program’s best start since 2000. The 12-match winning streak is the school’s longest run since 1996 when the Red Raiders won 15-straight to open the season. The Red Raiders currently sit atop the Big 12 conference standings.

Against TCU (8-6) : The Lobos are 8-6 all time versus the Horned Frogs. The two teams split matches last year with UNM winning 3-0 in Albuquerque and TCU winning 3-0 in Fort Worth. UNM holds an impressive 6-1 record when playing the Horned Frogs in Johnson Center.

Against Texas Tech (8-9) : The Lobos are 8-9 all time versus the Red Raiders. The Lobos have lost in the last three meetings between the two teams, most recently in 2001, when Texas Tech won 3-0 at home. .

COACH NELSON: The Lobos are led by Coach Jeff Nelson, who is in his fifth year at New Mexico and carries a 86-43; 40-24 MW, record into Friday’s game against TCU.

NELSON FACES FAMILIAR FOE … Head coach Jeff Nelson will face the school that gave him his head coaching start in Texas Tech. Nelson compiled a record of 166-95 in nine years as the Red Raid- ers coach from 1995-02. He had great success at Texas Tech, coaching the Red Raiders to five NCAA tournament appearances.

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Lobos lost an emotional battle, 3-2, to the Pittsburgh Panthers in their first match of the Pitt Blue and Gold Classic Friday night. New Mexico fell victim to a come from behind victory by the Panthers. The Lobos won the first two sets in spectacular fashion, but fell apart in the final three to give the match away to Pitt.

It was easy to tell in warm-ups that the Lobos had come to play. The ladies were firing on all cylinders, coming up with diving digs and raining down the fury on their kills. It was only a matter of time before the match would start and Pittsburgh would find itself in a lot of trouble. Unfortunately for the Lobos, that passionate play only came in the first two sets.

Pittsburgh proved to be an extremely tough and headstrong opponent, as the Panthers claimed sets three and four to force a fifth and final set.

In the fifth set, the Lobos failed to match Pitt’s built-up momentum. It was a disappointing loss for the Lobos, and one that head coach Jeff Nelson won‘t forget any time soon.

“I couldn’t be more disappointed,” Nelson said. “This is the second match this season that we have beaten ourselves. We just aren’t getting output from our outside hitters. We have Ashley Rhoades and Allison Buck putting up huge numbers and other people just watching right now.”

Game One: Lobos 25, Pitt 19

The Lobos got out to a blazing fast start, taking a 6-1 lead over host Pittsburgh. With the Lobos pouring it on early, Panthers’ head coach Toby Rens was forced to call a timeout. Pitt battled back to narrow the Lobos’ lead to five at one point (20-15), but the Lobos proved to be too much as they took the set 25-19. As usual, Rhoades, the Mountain West’s leader in kills per set, was the dominating offensive force for New Mexico. The senior was responsible for nine of the Lobos 25 points (six kills and three block assists) to go along with a hitting percentage of .500.

Game Two: Lobos 25, Pitt 18

The second set was played extremely tight in the beginning. The Lobos held the lead for the majority of the time, but the Panthers were always within striking distance. The difference maker for the Lobos was team unity. When things got tough the team showed true grit by playing for one another, acting as a complete unit. Setter Mariah Agre matched her first game total in assists with 11, giving her 22 total heading into the third set. The Lobos overcame the push Pitt had early to claim the set 25-18.

Game Three: Pitt 26, Lobos 24

The game was stopped early on, with the score at 2-3, when sophomore Ashley Newman hurt herself after landing awkwardly on her foot. The Lobos got hot after the stoppage, reeling off five-straight points, forcing the Panthers to call a timeout. Pitt came out strong after the timeout, eventually taking the lead, 12-10. The Panther’s Monica Wignot continued to improve on her impressive match, recording six kills, giving her 16 for the match. After Pitt took a 15-12 lead, coach Nelson called a timeout, no doubt, to preach how important is was to finish the match and not let Pitt back in it. The Lobos clawed their way back into the set to take a 17-16 lead. From that point, the Lobos and Panthers traded points up until the Panthers claimed their first set of the match, 26-24.

Game Four: Pitt 26, Lobos 24

The fourth set could have easily been compared to the 12th round of a heavyweight title fight. Neither team wanted to lose the set. It all came down to who wanted it more. Pitt was battling to keep the match alive, and the Lobos were fighting to shut the Panthers down for a victory. The truth of who wanted it more came in crunch time with the panthers in front, 23-21. Coach Nelson called a timeout in an effort to rally the troops. Unfortunately, that didn’t help as the Panthers took the game 26-24. Pitt’s Wignot was incredible, coming up with another four digs to give her a team-high total of 20, trailing only the Lobos’ Rhoades, who had a game-high 21 digs at that point.

Game Five: Pitt 15, Lobos 13

If the fourth set was a heavyweight title fight, then the fifth set was Armageddon. Once again the two teams played each other extremely tight. Pitt had the momentum coming into the set, having won two straight, and the Lobos simply couldn’t hold the Panthers off. The Panthers did an amazing job climbing out of the 2-0 hole they fell into to start the match, fending off the Lobos in the final set, 15-13, to win the match, 3-2.

“We just have to get up in the morning and play again,” Nelson said after the match. We have to work our way through it.”

The Lobos fall to 5-3 on the season with the loss and will look to rebound in their two matches tomorrow, beginning with Delaware at 11 a.m. and Temple at 3 p.m. MT

Middle Kelsey Brennan rocked the house with a .353 hitting percentage

EVANSTON, Ill. – The New Mexico State volleyball team defeated Colgate 3-1 (25-23, 25-21, 22-25, 25-21) in the first match of the Wildcat Classic, Friday, Sept. 16 in Ryan Welsh Center in Evanston, Ill., to pick up its 10th victory of the year.

NM State goes to 10-2 on the year and was led by freshman Meredith Hays who tallied her fifth double-double of the year with 21 kills and 15 digs. The 21 kills matches her career-high and the 15 digs is the second most of her young career.

“You give credit to Colgate for playing the way they did today,” head coach Mike Jordan said. “They couldn’t stop our middles today, and I am happy with that because we have been working hard at it.”

Sophomore middle hitter Desiree Scott marked 12 kills with a .333 hitting percentage and senior middle hitter Kelsey Brennan added nine kills with a .353 hitting percentage. Senior middle hitter Michelle Kuester tallied eight kills while hitting .312 on the afternoon.

Senior setter Jennah DeVries posted 52 assists, six kills and five digs, while senior libero Kelsi Phillips marked a match-high 18 digs to go along with three assists. Senior Brynja Rodgers added 13 digs and two assists, while freshman Gwen Murphy finished the afternoon with five kills.

The Aggies never trailed in set one taking a lead as big as seven at 16-9, but Colgate pulled to within one at end of the set at 23-22. A kill by Hays gave NM State two set points at 24-22. A kill by a Raiders’ attacker took the set to 24-23, but Hays closed it out with her seventh kill of the match to give NM State a 25-23 victory.

Colgate led for the first time in the match at 5-4 in set No. 2. There would be nine ties after that with the last one coming at 14-all. The Aggies hammered three consecutive kills to take a 17-14 lead. After going back-and-forth, Brennan hammered down a kill on a sliding-pin play to give her team a 23-19 lead. NM State held off the Raiders to get the 25-21 win.

NM State fell 25-22 in set No. 3 after falling behind by five at 11-6. The Aggies tried to fight back but Colgate pulled away and took a seven point lead at 14-7 after a kill by the Raiders’ kill leader Lindsay Young. After a Colgate service error that made the score 21-19, the Aggies continued to fight and pulled to within two at 24-22. However, the Raiders pulled off the win on a kill by Mari Faines.

The Aggies took an eight point lead after rattling off four consecutive points to go up 16-8 in set No. 4. NM State allowed a five point Raider scoring rally late in the set, which took the score 24-21. The Aggies had six match points and eventually ended the match on a Desiree Scott kill. NM State won the set 25-21 and go to 10-2 on the year.

NM State plays two matches on Saturday, Sept. 17 with the first match at 10am (MT) against Duquesne. There is a tape delay for that match at 12pm (MT) on KSNM AM 570 with Kyle Doperalski giving the play-by-play action.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The New Mexico State volleyball team improved to 9-2 after sweeping UTEP 26-24, 25-23, 25-18 in the Pan American Center, Tuesday, Sept. 13. NM State has not dropped a match to the Miners since Nov. 21, 2004 when UTEP won 3-1 in El Paso.  The Aggies are now on a 14-match winning streak over UTEP.

Senior Kelsey Brennan and freshman Meredith Hays powered the offense with 12 and 13 kills respectively with Hays marking the fourth double-double of her career as she added 10 digs.  Senior libero Kelsi Phillips also tallied 10 digs and senior setter Jennah DeVries marked a match-high 34 assists.

Although NM State marked more attack errors than the Miners did, the Aggies found a way to come out with the victory.  The Aggies tallied 40 kills compared to UTEP’s 35 and out-blocked the Miners 10-8.  NM State also posted four service aces with sophomore Stephanie Ziegler serving two of them.

“We made a lot of silly errors and I think we can go back and learn a lot from our mistakes,” head coach Mike Jordan said.  “Sometimes you win ugly, but we were still able to come up with the win.”

NM State took an early 5-2 lead in set No. 1 after Hays got the 1,830 fans in attendance on their feet with a monstrous kill.  After a service error by the Miners that took the score to 11-6, the Miners would win seven of the next nine points to tie it at 13 all.  A huge block by senior Michelle Kuester and Brennan made the score 21-17, but the Miners used a six point rally to take a late 23-22 lead.  The set would tie for the fourth time at 24-all, however the Aggies took the next two points to win 26-24.

The second set saw 12 ties and seven lead changes with the final tie of the set coming at 20-20 when Brennan slammed down her eighth kill of the match.  The Miners cut the lead to within one at 23-22, but another hard hit ball by Hays gave NM State a 24-22 cushion.  After a point by UTEP to squeeze the Aggie lead to one again, DeVries marked her only kill of the match to help her team to a 25-23 victory.

NM State put its offense together in set No. 3 tallying a .333 hitting percentage with only three attack errors in the set.  The Aggies forced UTEP to make seven attack errors and three service errors to assist NM State to its ninth victory of the year.  A late rally gave NM State some separation at 20-14 and the Aggies finished off their I-10 rivals scoring the final two points of the match.

NM State now heads to Evanston, Ill., for the Wildcat Classic hosted by Northwestern, Sept. 16-17.  NM State faces Colgate at 3:30pm (MT) and the action can be heard on KSNM AM 570 with Kyle Doperalski giving the play-by-play action.

Meredith Hays

The Aggies had a strong day at the CenturyLink Premier tournament in San Marco, TX, sweeping Louisana-Lafayette (25-13, 25-16, 25-16) and Houston Baptist University (25-15, 25-18, 25-22).

SAN MARCOS, Texas - The New Mexico State volleyball team swept Louisiana-Lafayette in its first match of the CenturyLink Premier hosted by Texas State winning 25-13, 25-16, 25-16 in the Strahan Coliseum in San Marco, Texas, Friday, Sept. 9.

Freshman Meredith Hays led the Aggies posting a match-high 13 kills, while hitting .320 and coming up with eight digs.  Senior libero Kelsi Phillips marked a match-high 11 digs while posting a match-high three service aces.  It was the third time this season Phillips has tallied three aces in a match.

Sophomore outside hitter Deirdre Pajares came up with seven kills on 12 attempts to post a .500 hitting percentage as she had one error on the morning. It was the second time in her career she has tallied a .500 hitting percentage or better.  Middle hitters Desiree Scott and Kelsey Brennan added five kills each in the match and senior setter Jennah DeVries came up with  a match-high 30 assists.

NM State fell behind 5-1 in set one but rallied back and took a 6-5 lead after Phillips posted her first ace of the day.  She tallied two more aces later in the set to give the Aggies a 19-13 lead and served for ten consecutive points while NM State won 25-13.

Set two was a bit closer with ties at 11, 12 and 16.  The Aggies took over when the set was tied at 16-16 and sophomore defensive specialist entered the match to serve for eight straight points to lead the team to a 25-16 victory. Hays led the way with six kills in the set and sophomore Stephanie Ziegler came up with six of her seven total digs in the set.

The Aggies took set three by the score of 25-16 with Phillips leading the defensive charge marking five digs.  The set was tied just once at 1-1 and the Aggies never lost the lead after that.  A kill by Brennan gave NM State an early 5-3 lead before freshman Gwen Murphy finished off the Rajun Cajuns with two consecutive kills picking up points 24 and 25.

To top it all off, freshman OH Meredith racked up 21 kills, a career-high, against Houston Baptist.

SAN MARCOS, Texas - Freshman Meredith Hays tallied a career-high 21 kills as the New Mexico State volleyball team swept Houston-Baptist 25-15, 25-18, 25-22, in the CenturyLink Premier, which is being held in the Strahan Coliseum in San Marcos, Texas, Sept. 9.

Senior setter Jennah DeVries was just one assist short of her season-high marking 41 assists while adding nine digs, four kills and a block assist. Senior libero Kelsi Phillips marked 15 digs, which is her best performance in a three-set match this season. Sophomore Stephanie Ziegler finished the match with seven kills and 11 digs and senior middle hitter Michelle Kuester made an impact on the match with four kills on six attempts to go along with three digs and two block assists on the defensive side of the net.

Hays posted 10 of her 21 kills in the first set and marked a .600 hitting percentage making only one error in the set. The set was tied 12 times and the lead changed seven times with NM State taking its final lead at 14-13 before going on an 11-2 scoring rally to win 25-15.

The Aggies hit .306 in set No. 3 as a team and finished with 16 kills and two total team blocks.  Sophomore middle hitter Desiree Scott impacted the set with three kills and a block, while forcing the HBU hitters to hit off balance with her blocking attempts in the middle of the net.  NM State took the lead at 4-3 and never lost it winning set two 25-18.

NM State stumbled a little in set No. 3 but finished off the Huskies with a 25-22 victory.  Four different Aggies marked at least three kills in the set and Hays was the only Aggie with a service ace.  The Aggies went up by as many as five points twice, but errors hurt the Aggies and got HBU to within one at 23-22.  Two kills by Hays wrapped up the match giving NM State a 6-2 record on the year.

Tomorrow’s match times have been changed to 9am (MT) and 1pm (MT).  The Aggies face Northwestern State at 9am and take on host team Texas State at 1pm.

Courtesy NM State Sports Information

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - The New Mexico State volleyball team dropped its only match of the Hotel Encanto Classic losing to Louisiana State University in four sets (22-25, 25-22, 23-25, 18-25) at the Pan American Center, Saturday, Sept. 3.

The match was pretty even statistically as both teams hit under .200 and both teams tallied at least 10 blocks.  Freshman Meredith Hays led the way offensively posting the first double-double of her career with a team-high 14 kills to go along with 11 digs.  Senior libero Kelsi Phillips was the defensive leader, flying all over the court to post a match-high 16 digs.

“Kelsi Phillips passed the ball pretty well for us today and Jennah DeVries set the ball well, but you have to give credit to LSU because they are such a tough and physical team to play against,” head coach Mike Jordan said.  “Today was a defensive battle and we just couldn’t get the points when we needed them.”

NM State setter Jennah DeVries tallied 30 assists on the afternoon and senior Brynja Rodgers added six.  Sophomore Stephanie Ziegler hand a decent match with nine kills with three other Aggies marking five kills on the day.

Set one saw a couple of bad serves put the down 7-5 but a kill by Hays and a block by senior Michelle Kuester tied the set at seven all.  NM State fell behind again but a four-point rally tied it up at 20-20.  With the set tied at 22, LSU scored three straight points to win 25-22.

After a couple of Aggie errors in set No. 2, LSU took an early 5-4 lead but NM State answered right back with a five point rally of its own to go up 9-7. After a long stoppage in play because of a controversial call at 19-18 the Aggies came back with two big kills from senior Kelsey Brennan to take a 21-19 lead.  NM State won the set 25-22 with the help of two stellar kills from Hays.

The third set saw LSU win seven of its first nine points by kills from its middle-blocker Desiree Ellioit.  Tied at 9-9, the set was back and forth until Elliot marked another kill to end the set at 25-23.  NM State fought hard in set four but hit just .075 compared to LSU hitting .308 in the set.  Eight attack errors by NM State led to a 25-18 loss and the conclusion of the match.

The Aggies now look forward to the CenturyLink Premier hosted by Texas State in San Marcos, Texas, Sept. 9-10.

Aug. 26, 2011

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — In day one of the MCM Elegante Lobo Classic, the University of New Mexico volleyball team won its opening match of the season, 3-1, over South Florida on Friday night in front of 1,879 fans at Johnson Gym.

The Lobos-Bulls match was the second of the night as Nebraska and New Mexico State had the early match. The Huskers took that one, 3-2, over the Aggies.
Senior Kelly Williamson led all hitters with 19 kills. Senior Ashley Rhoades also had an exceptional night at the net, tallying 14 kills for New Mexico, while sophomore setter Mariah Agre had 42 assists.

The Bulls were led by junior J’Beria Davis who had 17 kills. USF’s junior setter Jessica Burghart notched 32 assists.

New Mexico out-hit USF .178 to .085.

“It was a little rough at the beginning, but we got the W in the end,” Rhoades said. “We need to work through our bumps and first-game-of-the-season jitters.”

In the first set, the Lobos and Bulls were point-for-point. New Mexico reached 24 first on a South Florida service error but a Lobo service error tied things up at 24-24. An attack error by the Bulls on the next play gave the Lobos the 25-24 advantage, however, South Florida refused to make things easy for New Mexico.
The point-for-point pattern continued until it was 27-all. A New Mexico attack error and a kill by Valerie El Houssine gave USF the first set, 27-25.
Set two began in much the same manner as the first as the two teams traded points. At 6-all, Williamson laid down a kill that propelled a 7-1 New Mexico run, making it 12-7 in favor of the home team and prompting a USF timeout.

The break in the action didn’t seem to faze the Lobos as they rolled out multiple kills – five from Williamson and one from Chantal Riddle, Ashley Newman and Rhoades—and capitalized on some USF errors to make it 24-15. The Bulls were able to sneak four points from New Mexico before a kill fro Rhoades put the set away, 25-19. New Mexico had their best accuracy of the night in the second set, capitalizing on 12-of-27 attempts for a .282 hitting percentage.

The third set yielded the same score, 25-19, with the Bulls hanging with the Lobos for the first six points. New Mexico took a 12-9 lead and held at least a two point or better advantage over USF for the rest of the set.

USF hung around in the fourth set, keeping pace with the Lobos for the majority. With the score at 18-18, the Lobos saw the finish line and sprinted toward it. A Williamson kill followed by a huge block from Rhoades and Lexi Ross put the Lobos up 21-18 and sent the Bulls to their bench for a timeout. USF snuck a point following the breather, but New Mexico was able to find Rhoades at the net and take advantage of attack errors on the part of the Bulls to put the set and the match away with a final score of 25-21.

“I thought it was a good first night,” fifth year head coach Jeff Nelson said. “We worked through some of the problems we had in game one and battled back to take control of the match. Ashley Rhoades, Allison Buck and Cara Fisher—a true freshman—all played well. I thought we looked a little nervous but I think we got better as the match went on.”

Tournament action resumes Saturday at 5 p.m. as New Mexico State and South Florida play in the first match. New Mexico will take on No. 5 Nebraska in the second match at 7:30 p.m. Fans are encouraged to park in Lot G located on the corner of Lomas and University as there will be a shuttle service from that site to the UNM Bookstore. The shuttle service runs two hours prior to the game (5:30 p.m.) until one hour after.

“We’re ready to go tomorrow against Nebraska. We’ve really been looking forward to playing them,” Rhoades said.

“I’m excited about tomorrow night,” Nelson said. “Nebraska and New Mexico State both looked good, so tomorrow will be a good match.”

Courtesy NM State Sports Information

ALBUQUERQUE - The New Mexico State volleyball came out firing against No. 5 Nebraska taking the first two sets, but the Cornhuskers bounced back to defeat the Aggies 3-2 (25-20, 26-24, 13-25, 12-25, 8-15).

NM State outhit the Huskers in set one and two, but defensive adjustments after the intermission slowed down the Aggie offense.  Freshman outside hitter Meredith Hays tallied a match-high 18 kills, while Morgan Broekhuis of Nebraska also marked 18 kills on the evening.

“We handled the ball pretty well and we played really good defense,” head coach Mike Jordan said. “We did the things we needed to do to stay in it but you have to give credit to Nebraska for coming back and playing well at the right times.”

Senior libero Kelsi Phillips marked a career-high 27 digs while adding seven assists as senior setter Jennah DeVries tallied her first double-double of the year with 40 assists and 17 digs. Senior middle Kelsey Brennan was the only other Aggie with double-digit kill figures as she marked 10 on the night with a .263 hitting percentage. Sophomore outside hitter Deirdre Pajares marked a team-high .333 hitting percentage with five kills on 12 attempts and committed only one error. Freshman Bradley Nash had eight kills in the match before getting injured in set No. 3.

“Bradley (Nash) getting hurt kind of took the wind out of us,” Jordan said. “Meredith (Hays) played a good match for us and our senior leaders also did well.  I saw a lot of positive things on the court and am expecting good things ahead.”

NM State marked only two errors as a team in set one compared to 12 errors and one service error by Nebraska which lead to a 25-20 win. Set two saw the Aggies catch fire offensively with 20 kills, while the fifth ranked team in the nation marked only 15.

The Cornhuskers came out of the intermission on fire and marked a .556 hitting percentage and tallied only four errors in the final two sets of play as NM State could not get above a .100 hitting percentage in the last three sets of the match.

NM State now looks forward to a match with South Florida, Saturday, Aug. 27 at 5pm (MT). Fans can catch the action live on the radio in Las Cruces on KSNM AM 570 with Kyle Doperalski giving the play-by-play action.

Aug. 20, 2011

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The University of New Mexico volleyball team got a warm-up match in Saturday night against the Alumni team, beating the former Lobos, 3-1 (25-16, 25-17, 25-15, 22-25). It was pre-determined that the scrimmage would be four games, even though the Lobos took the first three.

“I like the adjustments we’ve made,” head coach Jeff Nelson said. “I thought we blocked and passed the ball really well. Overall, I thought it was a great start. We graduated three All-Americans and everyone thought we were going to fall apart, but we are looking really good right now and I’m very pleased.”

The Lobos looked sharp throughout the match and appear ready for the regular season to start. Senior Ashley Rhoades, who is coming off a summer in which she played for the 2011 U.S. Women’s National A2 Program, looked like a seasoned veteran flying high around the net at all times. Rhoades finished the night with nine kills, while recording a stellar .412 hitting percentage.

Fellow senior Kelly Williamson looks stronger than ever. The Rhoades Scholar candidate led the Lobos with 12 kills in the match.

“It was so fun,” Williamson said about playing against the Alumni squad. “I can’t tell you how much we were looking forward to playing someone besides ourselves. I am just so happy with our team this year.”

After the match, head coach Jeff Nelson couldn’t help but gush about Williamson.

“She just leads by example everyday,” Nelson said. “Every part of her game and her college experience is coming together right now, and I am just really happy for her.”

The alumni were lead by former Lobos Jeanne Fairchild and Amy Wong, with both recorded eight kills on the evening. Assistant coach Lisa Beauchene had a the chance to get after her players, as she had a very nice match playing with the alumni squad leading the team with 27 assists.

It was a nice way for the Lobos to wrap up their preseason. Now they look ahead to the regular season which will begin on Friday, Aug. 26 against South Florida at 7:30 p.m. in UNM’s first match of the MCM Elegante Lobo Classic. UNM will host the No. 5 team in the nation, Nebraska, on Aug. 27 at 7:30 p.m. Nebraska is a perennial powerhouse in the NCAA. The Cornhuskers were the 2006 national champions and are a pre-season top-five team in the nation heading into the MCM Elegante Lobo Classic.

NMSU freshman Meredeth Hays

Courtesy NM State Sports Information

LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico State volleyball team showed the kind of depth the team has as it swept the Aggie Alumni at the Pan American Center, Saturday, Aug. 20.

NM State defeated the Alumni team 25-21, 25-19, 25-16, 25-20 with freshman Meredith Hays leading the way offensively with 12 kills and three service aces. The Aggies showed off the young arms as freshman Bradley Nash tallied eight kills and red-shirt sophomore Stephanie Ziegler finished with seven.

“We tried out a few different lineups today and I was happy with the different looks we had today,” head coach Mike Jordan said. “There is a lot of competition for spots and I expect to see some players make some strides this week.”

The only sure starters heading into the season according to Jordan are Jennah DeVries at setter, as she tallied a team-high 27 assists against the Alumni, and Kelsi Phillips at libero. Phillips posted a match-high 12 digs. DeVries also had 11 digs and two kills in the four sets. Senior Brynja Rodgers got in the match as the Aggies practiced its 6-2 offense and she came up with 13 assists, three digs and two service aces.

“I thought that we did some things pretty well on the court today and with seniors like Jennah, Kelsi and Brynja, we should be able to compete with some of the top teams around,” Jordan said.

Former Aggie outside hitter and record holder Kayliegh Giddens led the way for the Alum with 12 kills, while outside hitter Whitney Woods tallied nine kills on the night. Former setter Alyssa Gintant, who was a part of the 2008 WAC Champion team, handed out a match-high 32 assists on the afternoon. Angela Lobendahn-Peterson, who was a two-time All-Sun Belt Conference selection, led the way defensively with 12 digs and two solo blocks.

The Aggies now look forward to the opening weekend of NCAA Division I play as they head to Albuquerque to take on No. 5 Nebraska at 5pm, Aug. 26 and South Florida at 5pm, Aug. 27. Both matches will be aired on the radio in Las Cruces at KSNM AM 570 with Kyle Doperalski giving the play-by-play action.