by Brandon Call
Daily Lobo
Hampered by injuries, the UNM volleyball team persevered Friday to pull off a 3-0 win against TCU.
The Lobos topped the Horned Frogs 30-25, 30-27, 32-30 to improve to 12-4 on the season and 3-1 in the Mountain West Conference.
The Lobos' leading offensive threat, Jeanne Fairchild, played sparingly because of a stress fracture in her left foot. Outside hitter Rose Morris was also limited by a broken finger.
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However, their teammates picked up the slack, head coach Jeff Nelson said.
"Before the match, we talked about other people needing to step up," he said. "I thought Jade (Michaelsen) and Lisa (Meeter) really stepped up for us."
Meeter recorded her 10th double-double of the season with a match-high 14 kills and 11 digs. Michaelsen added seven kills and dished out a career-high 41 assists.
Nelson said he adjusted UNM's lineup to compensate for the injuries.
"We played with a completely different system tonight," he said. "We went with a 5-1 with Jade setting all night because we knew that we couldn't play Jeanne through the back row. We had to use different subs."
Michaelsen said Fairchild's absence from the back row was unnoticeable.
"The other hitters really stepped up," she said. "They came out ready to go. It really didn't feel any different out there to me. Everyone worked their butts off to really just get the ball in and to a place where we could get the kill. We practice all the time with different rotations, so it wasn't that different for us."
Sophomores Kat Crawley and Allie Suiter played longer than usual. Crawley had six digs, while Suiter added seven kills.
Gayle Tripp, who added 10 digs to aid the Lobo defense, said she was happy with the team's response.
"It was an all around effort," she said. "Different people stepped up passing, setting and hitting. We showed that we have depth. If we can spread all that Jeanne does across the board, it should be pretty easy getting more people involved offensively."
Despite her injury, Fairchild notched 12 kills.
After playing through the pain, Fairchild said she is optimistic about the future.
"My foot just takes a lot of icing and Ibuprofen and rest," she said. "As for next week, I'm going into it wanting to play, but it's really up to my foot and how it feels. The doctor said the recovery time is anywhere from one to eight weeks, so we'll see how fast my body heals."
The Lobos hit the road Friday to face MWC foes Utah and No. 12 BYU this weekend.
Nelson said his team will recuperate and prepare for the matchups during practice.
"We're going to work on getting some kids healthy this week," he said. "We're going to work on the basics - passing, serving and defense - and not do as much jumping so we are a little healthier next weekend. It's a really tough road trip, but our goal is to go up there and play our best ball and see what happens."
Volleyball vs. Utah
Friday, 7 p.m.
Salt Lake City, Utah
