LAS CRUCES – The New Mexico State volleyball team looked like it was going to coast to a victory over Southern Utah.
But after a 25-12 victory in the first set on Thursday, the Aggies had to grind out a four set victory (25-12, 23-25, 25-20, 25-23) at the Pan American Center.
“We have to grind,” said Aggies coach Mike Jordan, whose team improved to 9-5 and 2-1 in the Western Athletic Conference. “I think that’s the way it’s going to be until we get consistent production from everybody, which could be away Tonight, our right side hitters didn’t score and they didn’t block.”
Lia Mosher tied a career high with 16 kills and Katie Birtcil had 21 kills and 14 digs to lead the Aggies offensively.
“For Katie to be 50 percent on kills as an outside hitter is unheard of,” Jordan said. “We were good at digging the ball for the most part. That’s something that has been a weakness for this team. We have been rough on them in practice about getting better at that.”
Sophomore setter Rylee Fay had seven of the Aggies 10 service aces and the Aggies held Southern Utah to .180.
Birtcil had six kills in the first set as the Aggies hit .355 in the first and Southern Utah hit .029.
The Aggies scored the first four points of the second set, but needed a rally midway through the set after Southern Utah took a 10-8 lead. Rylee Fay had one of the Aggies’ service aces, Birtcil had a kill and teamed up with Lia Mosher for a block and a 14-12 lead.
An Aggies passing error made it 24-23 and Southern Utah tied the match at 1-1 on blocking error from Molly Johnson.
Fay had three more aces during a 5-0 run to start the third set.
Southern Utah came back to lead 19-18 and the set was tied 20-20 before Fay stepped to the service line. The Aggies took a 21-20 lead on an overpass that Mosher slammed home for the first of three straight kills and Fay’s fifth ace of the set made it 24-20 as the Aggies outscored Southern Utah 5-0 to win the third.
“She (Fay) was impressive at the service line, but I’m a little proud of her because she dug some balls tonight,” Jordan said. “She hasn’t been very good defensively and she has been working at it. We have been on her.”
The Aggies needed to come from behind in the fourth, knotting the set at 14-14 on a Birtcil kill. Taylor Snow made it 18-17 Aggies and a Mari Sharp (nine kills, 13 digs) block extended the lead to 21-18.
NM State plays host to Utah Tech looking for a third straight WAC victory on Saturday at 1 pm
“(Utah Tech) is solid and they have some good players,” Jordan said. “I think they are more athletic than this team that we just played, but are similar in size. If we play well, we should win at home.”
Jason Groves can be reached at 575-541-5459 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @jpgroves.
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