The UNM volleyball team will face a familiar foe tonight when it travels to Colorado Springs, Colo.
The Lobos face the Air Force Academy, the team they opened Mountain West Conference play against almost a month ago. Both teams have been having their troubles lately.
UNM (6-14, 1-6 MWC) is in the midst of a six-game losing streak - its last victory coming against the Falcons, a decisive 3-0 decision at Johnson Center. UNM has been competitive in MWC play. It won the first game against the then-20th-ranked University of Utah and was competitive in losing to the Utes 3-1.
The Lobos, currently eighth in the eight-team MWC, showed the same qualities against Colorado State University and San Diego State University. They also played the University of Wyoming tough at The Pit, losing 3-1 there as well.
But UNM has been plagued by inconsistency as well as a lack of a second consistent big- hitter to compliment junior outside hitter Anna Reines.
Air Force (8-13, 2-5) has fared a little better. The Falcons shocked Brigham Young University 3-1 Oct. 4 and earned their second win a week later, against Wyoming 3-1 in Colorado Springs on Oct. 9. But AFA has hit the skids since and is currently on a four-game losing streak. The Falcons dropped their latest match, Wednesday against Denver University, in straight sets 22-30, 24-20 and 19-30. As has been their pattern for much of the year, Air Force fell behind early and was unable to rally. In their last four loses, the Falcons have won only one game - taking the third set of their game against the University of Nevada at Las Vegas last Saturday.
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Friday's trip to Colorado is UNM's second to the last for the season. The Lobos host four of their final six conference games before heading into the MWC Championships in Fort Collins, Colo. at CSU's Moby Arena Nov. 21-23.
Around the MWC: Colorado State (14-7, 6-1) and San Diego State (15-9, 6-1) are tied for the league lead at the midway point. Both teams have a two-game lead over the teams tied for third, Utah (14-6, 4-3) and BYU (9-12, 4-3). Wyoming (17-5, 3-4) is currently sixth and UNLV (6-14, 2-5) holds seventh place.
The schedule doesn't smile on either CSU or SDSU down the stretch. Both teams play five of their final seven on the road. This would seem to favor Utah and BYU, which both host the Rams and Aztecs. But the Cougars haven't exactly cultivated a home court advantage this year. They've lost four of their six home matches. The Utes, on the other hand, has been dominant at home. Utah is 9-0 at home and has only lost six of 33 games played there.
Utah remains the only MWC currently ranked in the USA Today/AVCA Top 25. The Utes fell to 22nd after losing to CSU and Wyoming over the weekend. CSU started the season ranked 18th on the AVCA poll. The Rams fell out of the poll on Sept. 23 after losing to the University of Cincinnati and the University of Nevada in their own Coors Classic tournament. Utah started the season ranked 13th and peaked at number eight on Sept. 9. BYU was ranked 23rd in the AVCA pre-season, but wasn't included in the first poll of the year, which was released on Sept. 2. Utah fell from the Volleyball Magazine Top 20 poll last week. They're ranked 23rd unofficially in this week's poll.
