New Mexico’s 2016 campaign came to a close early after the final day in the Battle on the Bayou was cancelled.
According to a UNM release, the Lobos’ last two scheduled matches of the season on Sunday were called off due to “inclement weather”.
Southeastern Louisiana had been under a flash flood warning since early Sunday morning, effectively closing the Lobos second season with a 17-9 record. The Lobos were scheduled to face off against Houston Baptist along with a rematch against TCU, after falling to the squad 3-2 at the Cowtown Classic.
UNM played in a triple header on Saturday, but only managed one victory in what was its final game of the season.
All but two of New Mexico’s losses came to ranked teams this year. However, the Lobos didn’t manage a victory against any of the seven ranked squads this season.
To start the weekend, No. 16 UNM faced off against No. 18 Tulane, both rankings unofficial according to DiG magazine. The Lobos fell to the Green Wave 4-1 as the duo of Eastyn Baleto and Marisa Doran was the only UNM pair to garner a win in the match.
The Lobos started strong with Baleto and Doran’s win but were halted by a rain delay. Head coach Jeff Nelson said the delay certainly played a factor in UNM’s momentum.
“Tulane played very well and really stepped up after the rain delay,” Nelson said. “All the matches were close, but we were up 1-0 going into the three-hour rain delay and really struggled coming out of it.”
For the second game on Saturday, the Lobos matched up against LSU for the second time in the team’s short tenure as a fully sanctioned sport. Last year, the Lobos fell to the Tigers 4-1 in the very first game in the program’s history.
Leading up to the contest, assistant coach Pauline Manser said the rematch was certainly on the team’s mind, though she wanted her team to focus on the weekend as a whole.
The match was close, but the Lobos eventually fell 3-2 against the No. 9 team in the nation.
Cassie House and redshirt Ashley Kelsey took court one, while Julia Warren and Hannah Johnson garnered a victory on court three in a three-set thriller.
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Despite the two victories, UNM was unable to facilitate a third win. LSU currently sits on the verge of making an NCAA appearance in the first year of the national championship tournament.
The Lobos finally found their winning legs in the sand after sweeping away New Orleans with a clean 5-0 victory.
“In our final match tonight, we challenged our players to play good, steady ball and compete for every point,” Nelson said in the release. “It was a good 5-0 win and will hopefully set the tone for tomorrow.”
Though New Mexico didn’t get another chance to add to their record, UNM ended its season on a high note with the 5-0 sweep.
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.
