Lobos look to rebound after struggling in Hawaii

Following a three-game losing streak, the New Mexico volleyball team has aligned its focus on finishing games strong.

UNM (2-4) was unable to come out of the Paradise Tour tournament with a victory over the No. 22 Hawaii, St. John’s or No. 18 Oregon.

“We struggled between 15 and 20 (points) this weekend,” head coach Jeff Nelson said. “We are going to focus on those issues to be better in that mid to late segment in games.”

In the first game of the tournament against Hawaii (4-2), Nelson said cockiness may have contributed to why his squad did not play to the potential the coach is used to seeing. After claiming the first set 26-24, UNM fumbled the next three sets 18-25, 11-25 and 17-25.

“In the Hawaii match, after we won the first game, I think that we were a little over-confident,” Nelson said. “It really affected us into our match on Friday (against St. Johns), unfortunately.”

Nelson said that while St. John’s has a lot of talent, the squad is beatable.

“St. John’s is a good team, but it’s a match that we should have won,” he said.

Right side hitter Chantale Riddle said she is concerned that a lack of maturity is playing a role in New Mexico’s struggles lately.

“I think that sometimes we were immature. We didn’t focus like we needed to.” she said. “We let their aggressive serves get to us, like personally.”

After the sweep, Nelson said he was proud of the way UNM played against the fast offense of Oregon (6-0). Although UNM didn’t come through against the only unblemished team in the tournament, the Lobos took one match away from the Ducks in the second set and kept each set within a seven point reach.

“We need to mature this week,” Riddle said. “A lot of teams didn’t think that we would win. We’re right there and competing with them, even when we didn’t play our best match.”

The MCM Elegante Lobo Invitational will be UNM’s final home tournament this year. Unlike the previous tournaments, New Mexico will not be slotted to face a ranked opponent.

The Lobos will go up against the Montana State Bobcats (2-4) tonight at 7:30 p.m. Following that match, New Mexico’s doubleheader Saturday features Bethune Cookman (0-7) and UC Irvine (4-3) at 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., respectively.

“This week is going to be a learning experience for us,” Riddle said. “Are we going to step up and play hard, or are we going to back down like we did in Hawaii?”

Liam Cary-Eaves is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Liam_CE.