The Lobos entered the Mountain West Conference Tournament as the No. 4 seed, with high aspirations of walking away with a conference championship and automatic NCAA bid.
Last year, UNM was knocked out by UNLV in the quarterfinal of the tournament. The Lobos made it to the semi-final round before being eliminated by Boise State 4-2 in the previous year, and hoped to make a deep again this time around.
But their goal was dashed by the No. 5 seed, San Diego State, in the quarterfinal round. Both sides won four conference matches and lost three during the regular season, meaning their seeding was determined by a tiebreaker which looked at national ranking.