Williamson Named to Capital One Academic All-America First Team

Dec. 15, 2011

TOWSON, Md. – University of New Mexico senior Kelly Williamson was selected to the 2011 Capital One Academic All-America® Division I Volleyball First Team today. Williamson is the first-ever repeat recipient in program history, as she was named to the academic All-America third team last year. She is also the first Lobo volleyball athlete ever to be selected to the academic All-America first team.

“It’s a great honor,” Williamson said. “I would never have achieved it without the support of my team, coaches, professors, parents and the incredible academic support staff at UNM. I would like to give special thanks to Katie Scanlon, my academic advisor, who kept me on track to graduate and was someone I could always turn to for great advice. I would also like to thank my parents who instilled good work ethic and passion into me from a young age. Thanks go out to my professors, who have challenged me to go beyond the classroom to discover my love for science and the environment and to my team and coaches who have made my experience at UNM so unforgettable.”

The award is a true testament to what hard work and dedication in the classroom can bring. Williamson is the epitome of what a student athlete should strive to be. Her relentless diligence finally paid off in the form of an academic All-America first team selection. The award should come as now surprise when looking at Williamson’s track record.

First and foremost, Williamson was named a Rhodes Scholar Candidate in 2010. She has made UNM’s Dean’s List all three years she has attended UNM. She is one of the UNM Student Athlete Advisory Committee Representatives. And she is involved in student government as a senator in ASUNM.

Williamson is a Conservation Biology major with a 4.00 G.P.A. and is a three-time member of the All-MW Academic team. Last June, Williamson competed in the USA Challenge Invitational Tournament for the Bring it Promotions (BIP)/USA Development Team. BIP, in conjunction with USA Volleyball, sent two teams of top-level collegiate players to compete in the event in Beijing, China. She was also named the Lobo Club Student-Athlete of The Year for community service contributions as well as academic excellence.

The 6-2 outside hitter also earned her stripes on the court this season, as she was a first team All-Mountain West selection. The Buenos Aires, Argentina, native led the Lobos to a 14-15 record and was second on the team with 3.64 kills per set, while averaging 1.51 digs per set.

To paint an even brighter picture of Williamson’s academic achievements you would have to start by mentioning the fact she was named a Rhodes Scholar candidate in 2010. She has made UNM’s Dean’s List all three years she has attended UNM. She is one of the UNM Student Athlete Advisory Committee Representatives and is also involved in student government as a Senator in ASUNM.

Williamson’s societal contributions don’t just start and stop with academic accolades and on court success. Staying true to her conservation biologist background, the activist in her came out while at UNM. During her time as a Lobo, Williamson organized annual “Green Games” during her playing career. The aim of the events was to ensure that everyone gained an understanding of how sustainability can be incorporated into their daily lives.

Head coach Jeff Nelson summed everything up by adding, “”Kelly is our first two-time academic All-American, she works really hard at everything she does and is exceptional in the classroom. She really leads our team in terms of classroom and community service and I think she’s really deserving of the award. I don’t know anyone in that group that’s worked harder and that has been more involved on campus and in everything else. I’m really excited for her and it’s exciting to have her win it two years in a row.”

Rhoades will look to help fill some holes on the depleted UNM roster that have been ravaged by injuries.

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.

Courtesy UNM Sports Information

Allison Buck Named One of the Top Perfomers [sic] in the Nation
The senior libero was recognized by CVU.com for her outstanding play

Sept. 15, 2011

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Lobo senior libero Allison Buck was recognized by CVU.com (Collegiate Volleyball Update) as one of the Top Performers in the country for her play from Sept. 5 through Sept. 11. Buck was named the MVP of the Comcast/Sheraton Lobo Classic after averaging over 6.00 digs in matches against UC Irvine and Portland State. Buck set a career-high in digs with 34, 10 more than her previous best, against UC Irvine.

Buck looks to continue her dominant defensive play this weekend as the Lobos compete in the Pitt Blue and Gold Classic. The Lobos first match of the tournament is set to take place tomorrow night at 5 p.m. MT against host school Pittsburgh.

LAS CRUCES – Hi Aggie Fans!

Well, we are a month into the season and what a ride it’s been so far. We are fortunate to have five great seniors to help carry us, and they’re all good players and great people.

Jennah Devries and Brynja Rodgers give us two really good setters with a lot of experience. It’s great to get Brynja back after her redshirt season of a year ago. Now we have the ability to play in the 5-1 or 6-2, and we’re very confident in their ability to do well in both systems. There is nothing better than having experience, especially at setter and libero. Kelsi Phillips gives us a great senior libero with a lot of experience as well. Kelsi has a great competitive personality and has become one of the leaders of this team.

Bradley Nash

That group of upperclassmen has played well so far and our young players are getting better each time out. We started the season playing fifth-ranked Nebraska, and we had them on the ropes winning the first two games. Unfortunately, Bradley Nash, one of our outstanding young outside hitters, went down with a knee injury early in the third game. She will have surgery this week, and we are hopeful she will be back in time for 2012 spring practice.

It’s a terrible loss for our team as she is a very good all-around player and not someone you can replace easily.

We’ve been experimenting with different lineups and feel comfortable that we can win in any of them. Fortunately, we have a few players that are versatile enough to play multiple positions. Kelsey Brennan, who has been a middle hitter her entire career is playing on the right side some now, and Deirdre Pajares can play the left or right. Hopefully, the improvement of some of our young players will help make up for the loss of Bradley but it will take some time.

The great news is we are currently 9-2 overall with both of our losses coming to great teams in Nebraska and LSU, and we had our chances to win both. We just beat a good and athletic Texas State team at their place, and we head to Big Ten country this weekend and play Northwestern. Later in the season, New Mexico and Colorado State will be coming to the Pan American Center for non-conference matches, and of course, WAC play is drawing near.

This team plays hard and has a really good chemistry about it. We are going to get better each day and contend for a WAC title and NCAA Tournament berth. This team is certainly fun to watch, and we’re asking all of you to come out to each and every home match and go crazy cheering us on.

For those of you that don’t know this, NM State volleyball has a great group of tailgaters that are outside the Pan Am before every home match. If you haven’t been to a volleyball tailgate, everyone is welcome and you have to experience it.

Make sure you come out and support Aggie volleyball. You’ll love the environment, the pace of the game, and you’ll be helping us reach our goals. Thanks to all of you who do support us and go Aggies.

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.

DENVER - New Mexico State senior setter Jennah DeVries has been named Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 5-11. This is the first-ever WAC Player of the Week honor for DeVries.\

The Sedalia, Colo. native earned CenturyLink Premier Tournament MVP honors after leading New Mexico State to the tournament title by defeating four teams in two days.

“We played a tough schedule in San Marcos (Texas), basically playing back-to-back matches each day,” head coach Mike Jordan said.  “DeVries did a good job of leading the team to four victories and I can see her continuing to improve as the season rolls along.”

DeVries tallied two double-doubles, averaged 12.07 assists and 2.93 digs and set her team to a .246 hitting percentage over the four matches. Her first double-double came in a four-set win over Northwestern State when she posted 47 assists, 12 digs and four kills. She followed that up with her second double-double of the weekend against host Texas State, when she tallied a season-high 51 assists while adding 15 digs and four kills. DeVries currently ranks second in the WAC with 10.77 assists per set and has six double-doubles on the year.

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.