Trying to get UNM’s star right-side hitter Taylor Hadfield to talk about her successes is like pulling teeth. The 6’1” junior from Corte Madera, Calif., isn’t one to boast, though she has every right to. Hadfield led the UNM volleyball team in kills for most of the season, finishing the year with 2.63 kills per set and a .252 hitting percentage.
The UNM men’s basketball team is undefeated against the Aggies this season — and not just the Lobos’ interstate rival. The Lobos beat the NMSU Aggies twice, and on Saturday UNM handed No.
Disclaimer: This column is satire. Dear UNM Administrators, Mike Locksley and message board bloggers: Season’s greetings from your sports editor at the Daily Lobo.It’s been a tumultuous year filled with embarrassment, angst and disappointment. Understandably, at this point, it’s safe to assume that I’m not your favorite person to interact with.
When it comes to turnarounds in NCAA Division I volleyball, Jeff Nelson has orchestrated the ultimate at UNM. When Nelson arrived in Albuquerque in 2007, the Lobos were in the middle of 13 straight losing seasons and a 32-88 stretch in Mountain West Conference play. A perennial MWC cellar dweller prior to his arrival, the Lobos have now posted three straight winning seasons under Nelson’s guidance.
The UNM men’s basketball team is potentially two consecutive wins away from a national ranking. The Lobos (8-0) are floating around the outskirts of the top 25 poll — getting votes in the AP and USA Today/ESPN coaches’ poll. And if college basketball kept track of the top 50, the Lobos would be ranked about 35th.
Is the UNM women’s basketball team in the midst of an identity crisis? Truthfully, the Lobos’ play is, at this point, utterly amorphous, and UNM has yet to form a composite personality this season. In their losses, the Lobos (5-3) have been in a stream of consciousness disarray. There have been bright spots, like, say, center Valerie Kast scoring 14 points in a 65-55 loss to Texas Tech. But inconsistency has held UNM back, point guard Amy Beggin said.
Despite all the hoarse voices, painted faces and vague threats of violence, it’s about time we all admitted something: Basketball-wise, the Rio Grande Rivalry just isn’t what it used to be. Look no further than Saturday night, when the UNM men’s basketball team dominated the Aggies at The Pit. The 75-58 rout was the Lobos’ seventh straight home victory over NMSU, the longest mark for any UNM squad since the Lobos won 10 straight home contests from 1941-51. And the disparity is unlikely to change.
Roman Martinez walked up The Pit ramp on Saturday with the smile he always wears after a UNM men’s basketball victory.
All Adam Watson wanted for Christmas was his transfer release from the Lobo football team. Until Sunday, Watson’s wish was in jeopardy of not being granted. The former UNM freshman wide receiver, who redshirted this year, was earlier reported to be transferring to play football at another school.
Let it ride! Essentially, the UNM men’s basketball team is playing roulette — whether Russian in nature, Saturday might tell — and the stakes are high. Potentially, the Lobos (7-0 overall) could parlay their early success into a spot in the top 25. With that said, Saturday’s game against New Mexico State, for which only 400 tickets remained available as of 4 p.m.
UNM women’s head coach Don Flanagan wants the Lobos to remain patient in the face of Texas Tech. The Lobos (5-2) will need all the offensive patience in West Texas on Saturday when UNM heads east to duel with the Lady Raiders on Saturday. “We have been successful when we’re patient,” Flanagan said.
The clock hit zero, and the buzzer sounded; Section 26 rushed Bob King Court, and students hoisted UNM guard Nate Garth above their shoulders at The Pit on Wednesday. The UNM men’s basketball team defeated No.
Ask UNM men’s head basketball coach Steve Alford about his Lobos’ undefeated start, and he’ll say he is “pleasantly pleased.” But an Alford mood swing might be forthcoming on Wednesday when No.
All the players are the same — it’s only the minutes that will change. The Lobo lineup will remain intact when the UNM women’s basketball team (4-2) travels to NMSU on Wednesday, but point guard Amy Beggin will see diminished minutes due to a fatigued ankle — the same ankle she had minor surgery on in the offseason, said head coach Don Flanagan. Beggin, who played nearly 40 minutes per game last year, started off the season in similar fashion, playing all but two minutes through UNM’s first three games.
Unfortunately, at the conclusion of Saturday’s Thanksgiving Midtown Tournament, the UNM women’s basketball team (4-2) wasn’t able to say “Winner, winner — turkey dinner!” University of Toledo’s (5-2) menacing zone was the brainteaser the Lobos could never decipher, especially at the tail end of the game, resulting in a 62-56 loss for UNM.
Opposites might attract, but it was fatal attraction for the UNM football team and head coach Mike Locksley when the Lobos faced TCU on Saturday. The Horned Frogs (12-0 overall, 8-0 in the MWC), at the other end of the spectrum record-wise, trounced the Lobos (1-11 overall, 1-7 in the MWC), 51-10, in Fort Worth, Texas, capturing the Mountain West Conference championship outright and getting a bid for a Bowl Championship Series game.
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.
Lobo runner Jacob Kirwa started off lost in a sea of 209 runners at the NCAA Cross Country Championship in Terre Haute, Ind., last Monday. By the end of the race, he outperformed 198 of them, climbing to the 11th spot and finishing with a career best in the 10,000-meter run (29:46.1). “When we started I just hoped I could go fast at the beginning, but I ended up in like the 100th position, so I had to fight back,” he said.
You may have heard of Brandon Jennings. He was a standout high school point guard from Compton, Calif., averaging more than 30 points and seven assists his senior year and winning a truckload of awards along the way. Then came the time for a new rite of passage for prodigious young ballplayers: Picking a college at which to waste a year before entering the NBA.
Essentially, it was the run that never ended. Northern Arizona tumbled from the get-go as the UNM women’s basketball team just kept going and going and going, easily holding the Lumberjacks to their lowest point output of the season.
Solutions by The State News
