The UNM volleyball team showed hints of greatness this past weekend in the Comcast Invitational Tournament at Johnson Arena. But reality set in as their youth and inexperience reared its head during the championship match.
After defeating the University of Texas at El Paso and McNeese State University in impressive fashion, the final game of the tournament showed that the Lobos still have a long way to go to get to the level of the No. 32 ranked University of Northern Iowa.
Every time the Lobos would crawl within three or four points, the Panthers would put together a perfect rally capped with a spike in Lobo players' faces.
It appeared as though UNM's third game in two days had taken its toll as the Panthers were hitting the right spots, while the Lobos were running into each other and diving into the net.
Even the Lobo defense could not compare to the Panthers big three - senior Kim McCaffrey, junior Kim Kester and sophomore Molly O'Brien. McCaffrey and Kester finished with 10 kills, while tournament MVP, sophomore Molly O'Brien, finished the game with nine kills.
"We just fell apart," junior Blaire Burns said. "One thing just led to another and things didn't get better, they got worse."
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Northern Iowa (3-1) would go on to sweep the Lobos in three games 30-23, 30-22 and 30-7 to win the tournament and drop the Lobos to 2-1 on the season.
"Losses do one of two things - you have to get better or you get worse," head coach Tom Peterson said. "Seldom do you stay the same, so we are going to analyze this game and go from there."
The Lobos did show that they have plenty of talent to build on as freshman Ashley Kirsch and senior Malena Thompson made the all-tournament team. Thompson ended the tournament with 17 kills and 22 digs.
Saturday afternoon the Lobos took on the McNeese State University Cowgirls, who dropped their opening game to Northern Iowa.
The Lobos made several mistakes in the first game and McNeese State capitalized, winning 30-22.
The match was a back and fourth affair that needed all five games to claim a winner. After being down 2-1, the Lobos fought back thanks to a tremendous game by Kirsch, who ended with a team-high 22 kills and 15 digs. UNM pulled out the three games to two victory 22-30, 30-22, 25-30, 32-30 and 17-15.
In the Lobos' first tournament game against UTEP, the Lobos opened up quickly against the Miners, scoring the first three points of the match and controlling much of the early moments for a 9-5 lead.
Due to some serving mistakes by the Lobos, the Miners were able to storm back to take a 20-16 lead and it looked like the Lobos would be in for a long night.
Then UNM turned to one of the biggest surprises of the evening, sophomore Anna Reines, who had four kills in match one and ended with a game-high 15 kills on the night.
"She's going to be real, real good; she's still real young as far as experience goes," Peterson said. "She's 6',3" with long arms and you see some angles from her that you don't see from other players."
Thanks to some great plays that junior setter Kelly Griffin provided, the Lobos edged the Miners in their first match 30-27.
In the second match, the Lobos again came right out and built an impressive 16-9 lead behind Kirsch, who ended the game with eight kills and four digs.
With things going the Lobos way, they relaxed just enough for the Miners to go on a 20-8 run and take a 29-28 lead and serve for the match.
The Lobos called a time-out to regroup, and instead of collapsing, turned to Reines again. She had two thunderous spikes that propelled the Lobos to a 31-29 victory and gave the Lobos a two games to zero advantage.
"I wish I could say it was anything I did," Peterson said. "If we were nervous, I like to look into the future and not dwell on mistakes."
In the third match, the Miners looked to be running out of gas compared to the Lobos, who were fueled by adrenaline. UNM held a comfortable five to seven point advantage the entire match and would put away the Miners with a convincing 30-21 victory and sweep the Miners in straight sets.
The Lobos hit the road for their next game against Long Beach State University Wednesday.
