With five games left in the UNM volleyball team’s regular season, the clock is ticking for the three seniors who have been instrumental in turning the program into what it is today. Senior captains Taylor Hadfield, Lisa Meeter and Jade Michaelsen are all four-year starters and were among head coach Jeff Nelson’s first recruiting class when he took over in 2007.
If there ever existed a must-win game, this weekend has a full slate of them for the UNM men’s soccer team. The third-seeded Lobos open the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation tournament against UNLV Thursday, a team they beat twice this season — most recently in a 3-2 win in the last regular-season game.
This time wasn’t like last time. After dropping a 3-0 decision to TCU on the road Oct. 8, the UNM volleyball team steamrolled the Horned Frogs 3-0 Friday at Johnson Center. It was UNM’s fifth straight win, moving it into second place in the Mountain West Conference at 16-8 overall and 8-3 in conference, while TCU dropped to 13-12 over and 4-7 in the MWC. “We all got together before the game and decided that we weren’t going to lose this one,” senior setter Jade Michaelsen said.
The lights finally went out during the UNM men’s basketball team’s player introductions, and the Lobos team kept Division III Manchester College in the dark. Coming off the bench, point guard Jamal Fenton directed the Lobos’ offense into high gear.
The UNM football team celebrated like it had won the BCS National Championship. Students leapt over rails, darting onto the field after kicker James Aho’s 38-yard field goal split the uprights as time expired against Wyoming on Saturday at University Stadium.
The player who fanned the “fire Mike Locksley” flames by supposedly agreeing with a Facebook post encouraging UNM to go winless doused them just as quickly Saturday night at University Stadium.
The UNM football team has two home games left and maybe one last chance to avoid a looming possibility: an 0-12 season. The Lobos host Wyoming on Saturday at University Stadium, before heading to Air Force and BYU and returning home to host national powerhouse TCU at the season finale. Head coach Mike Locksley said UNM’s winless streak is a result of inconsistency. “It’s tough to deal with,” he said.
It’s early-season college baseball’s version of the Fall Classic. The UNM baseball team concluded its Cherry-Silver World Series on Thursday after a three-game set at Lobo Field. Despite losing the first two games, the Silver squad won Game 3 7-5. Head coach Ray Birmingham said he was pleased with both teams’ performance during the three-day series. “It was the same thing that I have seen all fall,” he said.
The test run is done. And guess what? Thanks to a near-capacity student section, The Pit is still deafening and obnoxious to play in. Eastern New Mexico University was the first victim Tuesday night, as the UNM men’s basketball team opened the renovated Pit by holding off a smaller, yet pesky, squad 80-58 in the first of two home exhibition games for the Lobos. Head coach Steve Alford said the only thing he didn’t like was UNM’s free-throw shooting.
The UNM baseball team is set for its annual Cherry and Silver World Series, Nov. 2-4 at Lobo Field.
For Drew Gordon, it was an injury that sounded scarier than it turned out to be. The UCLA transfer had surgery Monday to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee.
It’s gone from months down to weeks, and now it’s only days away. The UNM men’s basketball team is ready to defend its back-to-back Mountain West Conference regular-season championships.
The good news: Last year, UNM beat Colorado State 29-27 in its only win of the season. The bad news: This year, the Rams, 2-6, are improved. The Lobos, 0-7 and searching for their first win, travel to Fort Collins, Colo., on Saturday. Head coach Mike Locksley said UNM is coming off its strongest performances of the year, a 30-20 loss to San Diego State at University Stadium. “I think our guys expect to get the best from Colorado State,” Locksley said.
No more than a week after being reinstated, sophomore running back Demond Dennis was dismissed from the UNM football team. Head coach Mike Locksley said Tuesday that Dennis had recurring academic issues.
Jeff Nelson just wants to talk about volleyball — nothing more, nothing less. The fourth-year head volleyball coach is on the cusp of a tremendous accomplishment: his 500th college match as a head coach. But when Sports Information Director Frank Mercogliano reminded Nelson about that piece of trivia, Nelson tried to dodge the topic with a clever quip. “So old,” he said.
Sure, the UNM women’s soccer team is well-aware of the significance of Saturday’s game, but there’s no sense in stressing about it. The Lobos, currently 11-1-4, tied Wyoming 1-1 tie Sunday in Laramie, Wyo., extending their undefeated streak to nine games.
UNM tailback Demond Dennis was kicked off the team for academic reaasons, Lobo head football coach Mike Locksley announced at his weekly news conference Tuesday. Because of inattention to academics, Dennis, a sophomore from Atlanta, played in just one play against UTEP on Oct.
Was it the much-needed bye week or the much-anticipated return of its former head coach that galvanized the UNM football team’s fading spirits? Either way, the Lobos, who entered the second portion of their season last week, were not first-half-of-the-season bad Saturday against bidding-for-a-bowl San Diego State.
Outplaying and outscoring opponents are two different things for the UNM men’s soccer team. Even though they outshot Cal-State Bakersfield 21-6, the Lobos failed to find the back of the net and ended Sunday’s game in a 0-0 tie in double overtime at the UNM Soccer Complex. “It sucks,” junior Michael Green said.
Empty was the theme of the night at University Stadium. Before a sparse announced crowd of 16,488, the UNM football team came up empty-handed 30-20 against San Diego State on Saturday.
Solutions by The State News
