It wasn’t a perfect weekend, but New Mexico closed out the USF tournament by dominating Western Carolina on Saturday afternoon.
UNM made the trip to Tampa, Florida despite the threat of Hurricane Hermine, but the six teams who made the trip to the Sun Dome were not affected by the weather.
After splitting day one by beating Stetson 3-1 and falling to South Florida by the same margin, the Lobos ended the tournament with a clean 3-0 sweep over Western Carolina (3-4) in the final match of the tournament.
The Lobos’ only loss came against USF (6-0), the host team. The undefeated Bulls have garnered championship trophies from their two opening tournaments on the year – the Charlotte Invitational and the most recent home tourney.
However, despite fumbling late Friday night, head coach Jeff Nelson said he was pleased with his group’s ability to bounce back and come out with a 2-1 record for the tournament.
“We just feel like we hadn’t played well our last few matches, so it was nice to go out and get after it,” Nelson said in a release. “Western Carolina is a good team, but when they lost their setter, it became a little overwhelming for them. And we really capitalized on it and went after them.”
After sitting the majority of the South Florida contest, Cassie House followed suit with a strong performance. Her 10 kills led the match as the only player to reach the double-digit kill mark. The senior outside hitter didn’t record a single error on her way to a .625 hitting percentage.
Victoria Spragg had little trouble with Western Carolina’s defense as well, recording eight kills with an impressive .727 hitting mark.
Redshirt junior Ashley Kelsey has further solidified her presence as the team’s starting libero, garnering her second all-tournament accolade in the 2016-2017 season. Carson Heilborn joined Kelsey, garnering her first all-tourney honor.
“I was really excited,” Heilborn said in the release. “I wasn’t expecting it. It was really great and I couldn’t have done it without the team.”
The sophomore setter averaged 22 assists a match in the tournament and just missed elite company, coming up one kill short of a triple double, which hasn’t been done by a Lobo since 2010.
“Heilborn overall had a good weekend,” Nelson said. “She hit over .500 for the weekend and she was one kill short of a triple-double (Friday) night.”
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The first set was the closest on the afternoon as both teams put together adequate hitting percentages, limiting mistakes in the process. However, it was UNM who came out on top 25-17 in set one.
In set two, the Catamounts lost its leader as setter Jo-Leigh VerVelde went down with an injury and was unable to return. UNM cruised to a 25-12 victory in the second game.
VerVelde’s absence was apparent in the final set of the contest where the Catamounts had no answer for UNM’s offense, which hit an astounding .536 in a 25-6 blowout to end the match and the tournament.
New Mexico (5-2) will return home this weekend to host the Lobo Classic, but will not retain the ambiance and familiarity of playing inside Johnson Center. Due to scheduling conflicts, UNM will be forced to play at WisePies Arena with its first contest against Arkansas on Thursday night at 7:30 p.m.
The tournament will also feature Montreal and Nebraska, the defending national champions.
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.
