With the inaugural season in the books, New Mexico enters the 2016 beach volleyball campaign with a competitive attitude.
The first season was more of a trial run, head coach Jeff Nelson said, but this season the Lobos have a better idea what to expect.
“Last year it was the first event, it was all new,” Nelson said. “Everything from filling out a lineup sheet to getting them out on the court. This year, we’ve got a much better handle on things.”
Nelson said the squad’s depth has added to the competitive feel of the team. UNM now fields 16 players, two more than last year’s count of 14.
Last season, New Mexico wasn’t able to offer any scholarships to sand players, and had little funds to travel for tournaments and away games. He said that added funding and support has prepared the team as a whole in anticipation for the opening serve on Friday afternoon in the Sun Devil Challenge, hosted by Arizona State.
“It’s just a better game we’re playing,” Nelson said. “Having a year under our belts, I think we’re much more ready and much more excited for this first event.”
Along with a new mindset, the Lobos are playing on a new court. After hosting a couple of events last year at StoneFace Courts, UNM has moved its new home to the North Valley.
New Mexico has been training at the courts alongside Lucky 66 Bowling Alley, on 4th Street just north of Montaño. The outdoor courts provide more space for the crowd to be able to watch multiple games at once, with ample amount of space.
Nelson said he is appreciative of the jumpstart StoneFace gave to the Lobos but that Lucky 66 gives the Lobos everything they could want while the true home courts are being built closer to campus.
“We’ve got a great facility here at Lucky 66, they have just made it incredible,” Nelson said. “You take a look around and it’s as good of a training facility as you could want.”
Along with more space for spectators and ideal viewing spaces, Lucky 66 has bought into making the Lobos feel at home. The colors along the viewing areas have been painted silver, turquoise or cherry, and Nelson said individual player posters will be displayed during UNM’s home tournament, taking place over St. Patrick’s Day weekend.
The head coach said he expects New Mexico to call Lucky 66 UNM’s domain for at least “a couple of years” until UNM builds official facilities.
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While the Lobos have been getting accustomed to their new home courts, junior Julia Warren has said that she is just excited to get to play.
“I think a lot of us just expect a lot this year,” Warren said. “There’s a lot of matches and games that we can win and I think we’re looking to have a really, really good season with a lot of wins.”
As far as opening weekend goes, Warren said she would like to come back from Arizona with five wins to come out of the gate swinging. Four of those opponents will come in Tempe, Arizona at the Sun Devil Classic starting off with Arizona State on Friday at noon, followed by Colorado Mesa at 4 p.m.
The Lobos will stay in Tempe to play South Carolina at 2 p.m., followed by Florida State at 3:45. UNM will then make a brief visit to Phoenix outside of the tournament to take on California for a 9:30 a.m. match on Sunday before returning to Albuquerque.
“Right now, so many programs are in their infancy,” Nelson said. “What that does is we all go to one place and get a lot of matches because we can’t afford, like indoor, to play one or two matches a week.”
Nelson said that while many programs are clawing to jump on board with the NCAA’s newest fully sanctioned sport, it’s still a growing process.
Warren said a lot of teams are able to model UNM’s program because they see the attention it has been drawing and the quality start the Lobos were able to get off to in their first full season of play.
While she said a lot of teams are realizing the value of adding the sport to the program, she said it was inevitable for sand volleyball to arrive in the Land of Enchantment.
“Albuquerque and New Mexico in general is just a volleyball state,” Warren said. “So many people play sand volleyball in this state that I think it was just a matter of time until we did get a sand volleyball team.”
While the sport has received a local draw of interest, Nelson said the sport is growing quite rapidly at the collegiate level, and his squad in particular has jumped off to a favorable start even after just one year of competition.
“Last year from the start of the year to the end of the year, we feel like we really closed the gap with some good teams,” Nelson said. “Now this year, I think we’re ready to go in and win against some of these better teams.”
Liam Cary-Eaves is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He covers volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Liam_CE.
