New Mexico is on the cusp of a top-10 ranking after climbing to No. 12 in the nation, according to DiG Magazine, the nation’s official collegiate beach volleyball magazine.
UNM’s caliber of play will be tested this weekend at the Cowtown Classic in Fort Worth, Texas.
New Mexico’s trip to TCU will be highlighted by the Friday night match against No. 1 ranked USC, preceded by the TCU match at 3 p.m.
“I’d like to get out of there with three wins, but Southern California is ranked No. 1 for a reason,” head coach Jeff Nelson said. “I’d like to see us play good ball. I’d like to see us really work hard and challenge them. Keep ourselves in the matches, keep us in it and give ourselves a chance to win.”
USC (19-2) is led by Kelly Claes and Sara Hughes, who have posted an unblemished 21-0 dual record in the 2016 season and have recently won the USAV Beach Collegiate Challenge. The junior pair has also recently won Pac-12 Player of the Week honors for the second time this season.
Four of the five USC pairs have received the accolade this year.
The Lobos’ Cassie House and Ashley Kelsey will have the daunting task of going against the undefeated pair and last year’s national champions.
“They’re really good,” Nelson said. “They play on the pro tour as amateurs in the summer and they are defending national champs. It’s just a great experience for them.”
While the Lobos are 4-1 against Pac-12 schools, UNM (16-4) hasn’t been able to piece together a win against a ranked opponent this season. Each of New Mexico’s four losses have come against top-20 programs, three of which were top-10 schools.
This past weekend in California, the Lobos continued to enjoy success by sweeping the weekend in the Sacramento area. UNM has won 13 of its past 14 matches.
After winning four games on the road, Nelson said the weekend was the most consistent sand volleyball the team has played.
New Mexico began play on Friday with a 4-1 victory over Pacific in Stockton, California followed by a clean 5-0 sweep of host school Sacramento State later in the evening.
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UNM followed Friday’s dominant performance with another 5-0 sweep over Washington for the first sweep against an established DI program.
“I thought we played really consistent, I think it’s the most steady we’ve been,” Nelson said. “We’re still improving, which is exciting but I really thought Washington was as solid of a match as we’ve played top to bottom all year and we just looked really confident.”
Nelson said it was nice to sweep Washington, but added that it was the entire weekend and UNM’s ability to control the matches was what excited him the most.
The Lobos were able to finish the weekend off by defeating indoor conference rival San Jose State by a 4-1 final.
“Overall, I’m expecting another really good weekend,” Jeff Nelson said. “With the direction we’re going, we’ve got to stay on track because it’s really good and every week good things are happening. We’ve just got to keep moving forward.”
Liam Cary-Eaves is the sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers volleyball, women’s basketball and baseball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @Liam_CE.
