New Mexico has its sand legs firmly planted in the program’s second season.
Prior to the weekend tournament, head coach Jeff Nelson said that the squad expected to win all of the matches it had scheduled.
Three opponents and four matches later, the Lobos sauntered out of the weekend with a perfect 4-0 record at home.
“I feel like we’re just getting better every match as the season goes along,” Nelson said. “You see more confidence, better teamwork, and we’ve really wanted to create a great team culture with beach volleyball.”
Nelson said that he still sees room for improvement. However, the team’s performance this weekend seemed dominant as the Lobos dropped just one point out of the 20 available, and that in a close pair of sets on the No. 1 court against Arizona State on Saturday.
“It’s great volleyball. Those number ones have played a lot, they’re good,” Nelson said. “Our kids are just getting better and better.”
Although the Lobos didn’t walk out of the weekend completely unscathed, Nelson said the tone was set against an experienced ASU club which has had a beach volleyball program for two years longer than UNM.
That tone was established early, with the Lobos taking victories on both courts during the first round of Saturday’s games, needing just two sets in each of the separate duals. Devanne Sours and Lise Rugland handled business on court No. 2 with a 21-19 count followed by a dominant 21-13 count. At the same time, Eastyn Baleto and Marisa Doran where cleaning up on court No. 4 in a 21-19, 21-16 win. Baleto and Doran have yet to lose a point in a single of UNM’s 13 games this season.
“It sets a tone for everyone else that we get the first two and then we just need one more to clinch it,” Doran said. “It just boosts everyone’s confidence and I think it tells everyone that we’re going to get this at the end of the day.”
The win over ASU was important because they were UNM’s toughest opponent, as Colorado Mesa and New Mexico State are only beginning their respective programs. NMSU has not even declared whether the school will have a sand volleyball program but have begun exhibition matches in order to test out the sand.
With ASU being the only other veteran school at the tournament, Nelson said he was pleased that the Lobos were able to pull off wins to garner confidence in the rest of his team.
“We won both of those two tight ones right away and that set the tone for us,” Nelson said. “We then kind of just rolled through it. I actually thought we were going to win all five points, I was pretty excited.”
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This will be the Lobos’ only chance to play at home this year, and the crowd that packed into the Lucky 66 Bowl, where the Lobos were hosting the tournament, reflected that.
“There were people two or three deep behind the bleachers and they were loud and into it and having fun,” Nelson said. “I haven’t heard a negative comment; all I’ve heard is how great it is.”
Doran said that she was pleased to give the fans a look at what the program has become and hopes that it is a stepping stone for the remainder of the year.
“We were just really excited to be able to play in front of our fans here,” Doran said. “Just excitement and accomplishment and just more focus on just progressing through the season just like this.”
New Mexico (10-3) will head back to Arizona to take part in the Wildcat Spring Challenge to face California State Northwood, Arizona and California State Bakersfield in Tuscon, Arizona.
Liam Cary-Eaves is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Liam_CE.
