It’s tournament time for the UNM volleyball team.
After finishing the regular season 20-9 and clinching third place in the Mountain West Conference, the Lobos received one of 33 at-large bids into the NCAA Tournament, marking the sixth postseason appearance in program history and the UNM’s first tournament trip since 1994.
Head coach Jeff Nelson said his team earned the distinction.
“We’re so thankful to the NCAA Selection Committee for putting us back into the tournament after a little bit of a drought,” he said. “Our program has worked so hard to get to this point. It’s been a long 15 years, but we’re proud to say UNM volleyball is back on the map.”
The Lobos’ high Ratings Percentage Index, regional ranking and strength of schedule should have made the team almost a shoe-in, but that didn’t temper the last-minute jitters and nerves.
“When it has been 15 years, you have some knots in your stomach,” Nelson said. “I think we were a little nervous when the first 32 names were announced and we weren’t up there. But we expected to be there, and we expected to be there from the start of the season.”
UNM will go toe-to-toe with 12th-seeded Hawaii on Friday in Los Angeles in the first round. If the Lobos win, they will face the winner of Oklahoma and Southern California in the second round on Saturday.
Nelson said he likes UNM’s chances of pulling off an upset.
“We’re excited to play a team of the caliber of Hawaii,” he said. “They’ve got some great players … but I think we match up well with them. It will be a good test for us.”
UNM is no stranger to facing ranked opponents this season. The Lobos took No. 19 Arizona, No. 23 Colorado State and No. 25 Baylor to five sets.
“We know we can compete against the best of teams,” said senior middle blocker Anna Lehne. “The main thing will be for us to play our hearts out. We need to leave everything out on the court. No regrets.”
The Lobos will have three practices this week before heading to the tournament.
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“We’re a team that works really hard in practice,” said junior setter Jade Michaelsen. “If we can get three days of really strong practices in and translate that to the match, we can out-work just about anyone.”
UNM will rely on their three Mountain West All-Conference Team selections: senior outside hitter Rose Morris, junior setter Michaelsen and junior right-side Taylor Hadfield.
Morris said the NCAA bid is only the beginning for UNM volleyball.
“This is where UNM should be,” she said. “We’re happy to be in. But we’re in for a reason, and that’s to win.”
