next match:
at USC
9/15/2022 | 8 p.m
Sep 15 (Thu) / 8 PM
U.S.C
History
LAS CRUCES, NM – After falling in a match they managed to actually outscore the Gauchos in on Friday, the Aggies found the answer on Saturday morning and were able to tack on win number six on the season.
NM State (6-2, 0-0 WAC) took down UC Santa Barabara (2-6, 0-0 Big West) in four sets (25-20, 25-20, 16-25, 25-23) in front of nearly 700 fans in the Pan American Center.
“I thought our competitive spirit was pretty good,” said head coach Mike Jordan. “We did a better job of trying to get the ball to the right people at the right times.”
Junior outside hitter led the Aggies in kills as she recorded her first 20-plus kill match of the season. Meanwhile, Rylee Fay paced the Aggies in assists (21) while Bianca Perez added 19 assists of her own.
Defensively, Darian Markham’s 13 digs were tops on the day for the Aggies and Lia Mosher compiled a team-high seven blocks to lead the way in that category.
SET ONE
Birtcil got the scoring underway as she took a pass from Jayde Shelton and turned it into an early kill to tie the score at one.
On the heels of a combo block involving Birtcil and Taylor Snow, the Aggies posted four-straight points to take a six-point lead (10-4).
Later, the Gauchos would climb back to put the Aggies’ lead at just one point before a pair of UCSB attack errors put the home side back up by three.
With the score at 22-20 in favor of the Aggies, Molly Johnson served as a catalyst with two late kills to help the Aggies lunge to a 25-20 set victory.
SET TWO
In the early goings of the second set, both sides appeared to be evenly matched as the score remained even through the first 14 points.
The Aggies then went on a quick 3-0 run thanks to a pair of kills from Birtcil and a resounding ace from Perez – putting the Aggies ahead 10-7.
Although UCSB would eventually retie the match at 12 points, the Aggies used a second three-point burst to take a 20-16 lead.
The Aggies continued to feed Birtcil as she notched kills on four of the final five Aggie points to give her 17 kills through just two sets while also giving the Aggies a 25-20 set win.
SET THREE
Just as the Aggies did on Friday night, the Gauchos awoke in the third set after falling behind 2-0 in the match.
UC Santa Barbara jumped out to a 7-2 lead that eventually blossomed into a 11-4 advantage.
Unfortunately, the early deficit was too large for the Aggies to climb their way back in as they dropped the set 25-16.
SET FOUR
With their sights on another win, the Aggies snagged an early 5-2 lead after Mosher and Sharp combined at the net to reject a Gaucho attack.
The Aggies would then double that difference and take an 11-5 lead once a Sharp swing found the floor.
Despite looking broken, the Gauchos slowly crawled back into the match and would eventually tie the score at 18-18.
NM State followed the Gaucho push by rattling off four-straight points highlighted by a Markham ace to take a 22-18 advantage.
The next run would belong to UC Santa Barbara as they scored the next five to put the Aggies on their heels and down 23-22.
Following back-to-back Gaucho errors, the next reception off a Perez serve would make its way back to the Aggies’ side of the net where Snow was looming large and was able to spike it down to the floor – giving the Aggies a 25 -23 set wins.
MATCH NOTABLES
- Katie Birtcil reached a new season-high in kills with 20 on the day to also mark the first Aggie attacker with 20 or more kills this season.
- Darian Markham compiled 13 digs to extend her streak of matches with at least 10 digs to 22.
- Jayde Shelton tallied a season-high five kills to eclipse her previous total by two.
- Lia Mosher matched her best performance of the year on the defensive end as she finished with seven total blocks, including two solos.
- Mari Sharp also matched a season-best performance as she finished with seven kills for the first time since the season opener against Alabama State.
UP NEXT
The Aggies now make the journey to Southern California for the Trojan Invitational where they will see host USC, San Jose State and UW-Milwaukee on Sept. 15, Sept. 16 and Sept. 17, respectively.
This will also be the Aggies’ last matches before WAC opponents begin appearing on the schedule. NM State’s first conference match will then come on Sept. 22 when they host UT Rio Grande Valley.
++NM State++
Comments are closed.