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The UNM volleyball team has one more tournament this weekend before its MWC schedule begins, but head coach Jeff Nelson called the Oklahoma Invitational the “biggest test of the season.”
The Lobos (10-1) face a three-match slate in Norman, Okla. UNM plays Arkansas-Little Rock on Friday before taking on Southern Methodist University and Oklahoma on Saturday.
UNM has won all three tournaments it competed in thus far, two at home and another in Georgia. The Lobos won their last nine matches, a stretch that includes four three-set sweeps.
Nelson said this early stretch is a “great start to the season” and the team is “miles ahead of where I thought we would be.”
“I thought we would have a much higher learning curve and have probably given up a couple of these close matches,” he said. “We had a couple where we came back and won, and we’ve had three five-gamers were able to win.”
Three of UNM’s 11 matches went five sets, and the Lobos won two of them.
Arguably the toughest five-set win came against UC Santa Barbara last Saturday. UNM dropped Sets 3 and 4 after holding a 2-0 lead, the result of a lack of focus, Nelson said. The Lobos rallied back in the decider, took an early advantage and closed out the victory.
The fifth set is a stressful environment. Nelson compared it to the first overtime session in soccer. Most fifth sets are completed in between eight and 12 minutes, because teams play to 15 points instead of the usual 25.
However, teams can gain a lot of confidence when they play well in the final set.
“It can affect a whole team,” Nelson said. “Last year we struggled in the fifth set and it hurt our season; this year, we’re so far rolling in the fifth set. It can be so touch-and-go with that stuff.”
The Lobos will need that confidence at the Oklahoma Invitational, specifically against the Sooners.
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A member of the Big 12 Conference, Oklahoma holds an 8-3 record in 2012 after recording a 21-12 mark a year ago. At last weekend’s Ameritas Players Challenge in Lincoln, Neb., Oklahoma lost 3-0 to top-ranked Nebraska but rebounded with a 3-1 win over No. 19 Kentucky and 3-0 victory over Duquesne.
“They’re a great program and in the postseason every year and finish at the top of the Big 12,” Nelson said. “I think this is going to be a great test for us going into conference the following week.”
Arkansas-Little Rock is 4-5 for the season, while SMU sits at 2-7. At its last competition, UALR won two of three matches at the Saluki Invitational. SMU lost all three of its matches at its home invitational last weekend.
“We’ve got to take them one at a time,” Nelson said. “We’ve got to get through those two first, and they’re both matches that, if we do what we’re supposed to, we can win.”
After the Oklahoma Invite, UNM begins conference play with a Sept. 20 home match against Colorado State. Nelson said he wants his team to keep improving and maintain its steadiness at the Sooners’ event in preparation for MWC play.
“I don’t think there is a kid that hasn’t played at least nine or 10 games this year,” he said. “We haven’t done that in the past. That speaks to the level of their volleyball IQ. They’re just a lot more solid.”
