It’s back to the basics for the Utah women’s volleyball team as it prepares to face Mountain West Conference foe New Mexico.
After its loss to No. 7 Oregon on Monday, Utah spent the short practice time it had focusing on fundamentals like passing and serving.
“We realized on Monday that our serving and passing needs a lot of work,” said middle blocker Lori Baird.
The Utes’ passing will need to be especially strong if they hope to slow down New Mexico outside hitter Jeanne Fairchild, who is averaging 4.82 kills per set and slammed down 24 kills the last time the two teams faced each other.
“We know we can’t stuff block her every time, so we have to be low and ready to pursue balls,” said libero Keisha Fisher.
In addition to stopping Fairchild, Utah will also have to slow down the rest of the powerful New Mexico offense, which is No. 2 in the conference in hitting percentage and kills with .248 and 13.59, respectively.
“We won’t be able to stop her (Fairchild), so we have to be prepared to keep any other players from going off,” said head coach Beth Launiere.
From now on, Utah will have to be on its A game defensively and will also have to be on top of its offensive game.
New Mexico leads the conference hitting percentage and is No. 2 in digs and No. 3 in blocks.
As far as statistics are concerned, Utah and New Mexico are almost dead-even with only fractions separating the two teams in kills, blocks, assists and service aces.
Because the Utes have faced the Lobos before, they feel more confident in their ability to prepare for the match.
New Mexico is led defensively by Anna Lehne with 1.41 blocks per set.
The Utes are led by Baird on offense and defense with 3.06 kills and 1.49 blocks per set.
“We’ve seen them and know what they do,” Launiere said. “We just have to execute.”
With only two days in between games, Utah has had little time to prepare for the Lobos’ visit to Crimson Court, but will still be preparing as the team always does.
“We’re not doing anything different than we normally do to prepare,” Baird said. “We’ll still watch film and scout them. We just don’t have as much time.”
Despite their short turnaround to prepare for the match, the Utes are, as usual, focusing on what is happening on their side of the net and not worrying too much about what goes on opposite them.
“It’s about our side of the net,” Baird said. “If we can stay in system throughout the whole game, we’ll have a good shot of winning.”
Utah will play on Crimson Court tonight at 7 p.m.
Tyler CobbHead Coach Beth Launiere said her team is ready for New Mexico and knows what they are capable of. The Ute?s just need to perform their best.