After a week off, the Lobos took a trip to California and swept another weekend on the road.
New Mexico (16-4) is now riding a five game winning streak, and have won 13 of its past 14 contests.
UNM flew in to Stockton to play a late morning match against Pacific, late Friday morning to garner a 4-1 victory.
Like the majority of the weekend, the Lobos had little time to celebrate the victory as the squad had to catch a bus to Sacramento, California, where the team would sweep Sacramento State, the host school of the tournament.
The 5-0 sweep was UNM’s first sweep over an established Division I beach volleyball program, according to a release.
“Tonight’s match was really good for the team,” head coach Jeff Nelson said in the release. “Everyone played solid and we dealt with some light rain in the later matches.”
Nelson said in the statement he was proud of the way UNM battled in the match, especially pulling out third set wins on three of the five courts.
The team wouldn’t not wait long to garner its second sweep of a veteran Division I school as UNM was able to handle Washington without a blemish on the scoreboard.
The light rainy Saturday didn’t seem to have much of an effect on UNM, a concern Nelson said he had going into the weekend.
New Mexico didn’t have much time to catch its breath as the squad quickly turned around to play indoor MW rival San Jose State (6-10).
Though the Mountain West does not sponsor beach volleyball, UNM and San Jose have developed a familiarity already in UNM’s early stages of the program.
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For the second time in 2016, UNM was able to take down the Spartans, both by 4-1 counts on Saturday.
"In round two we had a rematch and conference rivalry with San José State," Nelson said in a statement. "We won the first three points so the match was over before the ones and twos went out."
Overall the head coach said he was pleased with the performances across the board as he has watched his team completely transform from where it was last sand season (3-11).
“I’m very proud of our performances today and the improvement of Lobo beach volleyball,” he said in a release after the matches were completed. “…Everyone put up good numbers all weekend.”
The beach volleyball team will be heading to Texas for the first time in the early stages of the program’s existence to participate in the Cowtown Classic in Fort Worth Texas.
UNM will take on TCU in the first game on Friday afternoon, followed by playing the nation’s best in USC on Friday evening.
The Lobos will finish the weekend off against the University of Louisiana at Monroe on Saturday Morning.
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.
