July 8, 2009

I hope everyone's having a great summer! We have been really busy getting ready for the fall. Steve and I were just in Miami recruiting at the USAV Junior Nationals and Lisa and I attended the Volleyball Festival in Phoenix. We also have been busy moving offices. We are still in Johnson Center, but with the relocation of the academic advisement staff, we've been able to create a true volleyball `suite' of offices for our staff and team to enjoy. The `new' digs have been painted and with some new branding in our area, things are starting to look really good.

Camps
Our first camps in June have come and gone with ease. We had a record turnout and it was, thankfully, pretty uneventful. The staff did a great job while the campers were awesome! Our July camps are close to maxing out, as well. It will be fun to have all of our players back, along with many of our newbies during the month of July. We finish with Team Camp at the end of July. The Region High Performance Team also is training on our campus in July and we finish the month by hosting the annual New Mexico High School volleyball All-Star matches. Steve and I also will be presenting at the state high school coaches clinic at the end of July!

Player Update
A few of our student-athletes just finished First Summer Session ... and did great! More will return for Second Summer Session. Kelly Williamson went to Nepal during first session and "saved the world". Really tough, they did some really great things for students and the community over there.

Allison Buck and Ashley Rhoades will be competing in Europe in mid-July with the BIP/USA Development Team (under 19 team). They start with training in Switzerland and scrimmage with the Swiss National Team for five days. Croatia will be their next stop for the Global Challenge Tournament (the same tournament that Rose Morris played in 2008 and Jeanne Fairchild and Gayle Tripp in 2007). Their trip will wrap up in Northern Italy. We know they will have a great time and make the Lobos proud!

Lisa Meeter played at the U.S. Open with a team of women from Minnesota. The team went 5-5 and she said it was really great!

All of the players, led by our 2009 captains Rose Morris and Jade Michaelsen, have been working hard in the weight room and in the gym. They have all played in some sand and grass tournaments, as well. In fact, Amy Wong has played in Phoenix and Lisa just got back from a tourney in Vail, Colo.

Last Year's Seniors
Sarah Kwasigroch will be joining our staff as a student assistant coach this fall while finishing up her pharmacy degree. She helped out this spring and did a great job! We are really happy to welcome Sarah back. Sarah was named the Lobo Club Student-Athlete of the Year in April.

Gayle Tripp graduated in May with her dual degree in political science and communications & journalism. She has been nominated by the University and the Mountain West Conference for NCAA Woman of the Year. Gayle leaves in August to play professionally in Europe. We'll make sure we have a link to Gayle's new team up on GoLobos.com as soon as we get the information.

Jeanne Fairchild will be finishing her degree in communications & journalism this fall and coaching at the Bosque. Next spring, she expects to continue her professional playing career in Europe. Jeanne spent this past spring playing professionally in Puerto Rico. Earlier this summer, Jeanne also was named the State of New Mexico Female Athlete of the Year.

Coming Up This Season
Workouts for the fall are coming fast. The team reports Aug. 9 and will play our Cherry & Silver scrimmage in Rio Rancho on Aug. 22 at 1 p.m. This is another part of our community outreach program. We are hoping to plan an additional scrimmage out in a neighboring community.

Our annual MCM Elegante Lobo Classic will feature three solid opponents. We open the season against Delaware on Friday, Aug. 28. On the 29th we will play Portland State and UC Santa Barbara. UCSB is a traditional volleyball powerhouse, while Delaware and Portland State won their conference championships in 2008 to advance to the NCAA Tournament. It will be a great weekend!

In week two we travel to Portland to play UP and American in the Nike Portland Invitational. American was another conference champion and NCAA qualifier.

Next up is our Comcast Challenge on Sept. 11-12. This year's field is outstanding with Pittsburgh, Cal State Fullerton and Baylor joining us. We close out our pre-conference schedule in week four at Arizona with matches against UA, Tulane and UTEP. Tulane won Conference USA to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. We also will have non-conference matches later in the season at New Mexico State and New Orleans.

The Mountain West Conference looks to be as exciting as ever. We should be right in the mix after a great spring and the addition of some really talented recruits. The conference lost some great seniors last year, but I think everyone has rebounded well and will be really competitive and fun!

At The Johnson Center
This year's home matches should be better than ever! Our marketing team has really ramped up their efforts. There will be many fun events going on at the matches and many new promotions. We also will be introducing a new feature at the volleyball matches. We will have a new mascot in addition to Lobo Louie and Lucy this year (we are working on the name right now, any ideas?). Lobo volleyball matches promise to be as entertaining and exciting as ever.

To wrap this up and get back to camps and recruiting ... It has been a great summer thus far. Great summers turn into great falls! We will keep working hard and look forward to seeing all of you at an upcoming camp or at our matches in the fall.

Jordie, Lisa, Steve and Dave all say `hi'! Enjoy yourself and the people around you and have FUN!

See you soon!

Jeff Nelson

Lobos Women's Volleyball

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