The UNM volleyball team got the most out of home-court advantage, winning this weekend's Comcast Lobo Invitational tournament.
The Lobos (4-8) rallied to beat Southern Methodist University Friday night and Temple University Saturday afternoon and dominated Auburn University Saturday night to get the trifecta. It was the first time UNM had won three straight matches since the 2000 season.
Six-foot freshman Chelsea Sondrup and 5-foot-9 senior setter Blaire Burns were named to the all-tournament team. 6-foot-4 junior outside hitter Anna Reines was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Temple (8-5) came in second, SMU (5-7) came in third and Auburn (1-11) finished in fourth.
The Lobos overcame adversity in their first two games, coming back for the wins. Head coach Kelly Sliva said that early road matches helped UNM to get to the point it's at now.
"(In our early games) I think they learned they need to take care of the ball on our side of the net," she said. "We have to play our game."
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
UNM 3, SMU 2
The Lobos came back from a two-game deficit to defeat the Mustangs 25-30, 19-30, 30-28, 30-21 and 15-12 Friday night.
After losing the first two games, UNM edged SMU in game three and controlled game four and outlasting the Mustangs in the fifth set.
The Lobos established a new a new team record for block assists with 33. Sondrup, a middle blocker, also set a school single match record for block assists with 13. UNM was led by Reines' team-high 17 kills.
UNM 3, Temple 1
The Lobos controlled games two and three, defeating the Owls 22-30, 30-19, 30-21 and 30-28 Saturday afternoon.
The Lobos got another good game from Sondrup, getting 10 kills in hitting for a .529 average for the match with only one error in 17 attempts. UNM had four players with double-digit kills - Reines with 14, senior outside hitter Vanessa Shields with 12 and sophomore middle blocker Cayse Kaveny with 10.
UNM 3, Auburn 0
Saturday night, the Lobos came out and grabbed the first two games against the Tigers, going to the straight set 30-15, 30-19 and 30-27 win.
UNM got a third straight outstanding game from Sondrup who finished with 11 kills, hitting for a .529 average.
Sondrup finished the tourney with 28 kills. Shields had another strong game as well, getting 13 kills. The Lobos dominated Auburn in every statistical category in the victory.
The Lobos close out their non-conference schedule Tuesday night against in-state rival New Mexico State University.
NMSU defeated UNM 3-1 in Las Cruces on Sept. 13, during the Borderland Invitational. In that match Sliva said the Lobos were unable to convert in key, pressure situations.
"We have to do exactly what we did today - make key plays at key times at the end to win," she said. "It was 26-26 or 28-28 against New Mexico State and instead of getting the job done, we made too many mistakes and lost. We were in position there, we had chances."
In the first game against UNM, the Aggies were led by 6-foot sophomore outside hitter Stevi Adams' 18 kills.
Five-foot-11 junior outside hitter Michelle Mosbacher and 6-foot-2 junior transfer Trinia Cuseo added 12 and 10 kills respectively. NMSU (9-3) defeated Northern Arizona University - Sliva's former team - Saturday 30-28, 30-21 and 30-24. Trinia, a transfer middle hitter from the University of Tennessee, led the Aggies with 11 kills.
Sliva said she feels the Lobos have a good chance to defeat their archrivals.
"We just have to play our game and understand our strengths and weaknesses," she said. "They're on our turf now. So what we need to do is get a lot of people here. They had 1,400 people at our match. They had a great crowd, so we need to back it up."
Tuesday's match is at 7 p.m. at Johnson Center. UNM plays its first Mountain West Conference match against the Air Force Academy Saturday at 7 p.m. in Johnson Center.
