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Hailing from Melbourne, Australia, junior outside hitter Lena Skipper brings international experience to the UNM volleyball team.
Skipper was a member of the 2012 Australian national volleyball team and participated with the team in the VTV Cup in Vietnam in July.
Australia played against Vietnam, Jiangsu, IBK Korea and Kazakhstan. Australia came away with just one win from that tournament, a five-set victory over Jaingsu on the event’s final day for a seventh-place finish.
“It’s a very different game,” Skipper said. “They’re fast and they’re low and they run slides a lot. They’re everywhere, and their defense is impeccable. Here, it’s more about hard hitting and big swings and power shots.”
Among her other playing experiences, Skipper competed in the 2012 Australian Junior Beach Volleyball Championships. She also played in the Australian Volleyball League from 2008 to 2011 and the Victorian Volleyball League from 2005 to 2011.
“In Australia, we play for a few different teams at once,” she said. “So we play for a club team, a state team and we play for AVL, which is the senior national league. We pretty much train one to two times per week for each team, so we’re training practically full time.”
On her Victorian league team, the Melbourne Falcons, Skipper received the Club Rising Star award in 2008, the Club Coaches Award in 2009 and Club MVP in 2010. She was selected to the Victorian All Stars team in 2011.
“She does have a lot of experience, and it’s good game experience,” UNM head coach Jeff Nelson said. “She’s working into her role here and getting used to being here. She brings a good core presence. She’s one of our best passers, she plays good defense, and I think in time it will get better and better.
A 2008 graduate of Eltham high school in Melbourne, Skipper said she was encouraged to come to UNM by one of her Australian coaches, former Lobo All-American and Australian Olympian Pauline Manser.
Skipper admitted she had to look at a map to learn where New Mexico was located.
This past weekend’s Sheraton Airport/LA Boxing Lobo Classic was Skipper’s first collegiate volleyball competition in the U.S. The 5-foot-10 hitter amassed 17 kills in four matches against Duquesne and Southern.
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Skipper’s highest attacking performance came Saturday night when she nailed 10 kills and two blocks in UNM’s four-set victory over Duquesne. Skipper also had two service aces in Friday’s 3-0 win against Southern.
“I’d like to see her become more of a leader on the court,” Nelson said. “I’d like to see her experience really come out and help our players that are younger in some of the tougher match situations. She’s a quiet player, so I think it’s going to be a while before she asserts herself like I think she can, but I think she’s already lending a lot.”
