Two-Match Battle of I-25 Opens in Albuquerque
ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (KVIA) -- The Land of Enchantment's only two Division I programs renew their rivalry this week. NM State Volleyball (6-2) is geared up for two matches with New Mexico (7-2), starting with a Tuesday bout in Albuquerque before both teams clash a day later in Las Cruces. The 80th and 81st editions Battle of I-25 will be the only in 2025 as the two sides meet for the second straight season.
WHAT TO KNOW
Who: NM State (6-2, 0-0 CUSA) at New Mexico (7-2, 0-0 Mountain West)
Where: Johnson Center – Albuquerque, N.M.
When: Tuesday, Sept. 16 at 5:00 PM
Live Stream: Mountain West Network
Live Statistics: nmstatesports.com/stats
All-Time Record vs. New Mexico: 47-32
Last Meeting: New Mexico 3 at NM State 0 – Sept. 19, 2024
LAST TIME OUT
NM State hosted New Haven over the weekend, welcoming the Chargers for their home opener. The Aggies took all six sets across the two-match series, adding to their winning streak that now stands at nine sets strong. Maggie Lightheart and Tess Fuqua led the way offensively, ending the weekend with 24 and 19 kills, respectively. The former also posted seven aces in Friday's affair, becoming the third Aggie to do so this millennium. The Crimson & White racked up 11 blocks over the weekend, holding UNH to a combined .091 hitting percentage. The victories bumped NM State's home winning streak to 12 matches dating back to last season.
SERVE AND PROTECT
NM State ranks second in CUSA with a .139 opponent hitting percentage, more than 40 points lower than a season ago. The Aggies have held six of their eight opponents to a sub-.200 hitting percentage, doing so at a higher rate than last year's squad (16 of 33 matches). The 2024 unit also posted eight or more blocks in 16 of 33 contests. This fall's team, however, has tallied at least eight rejections in six of eight matches thus far.
At the service line, NM State has been equally as dominant. The Aggies have averaged 2.03 aces per set, up from last year's 1.30 mark. Eleven aces was the group's high-water mark in 2024, which has already been eclipsed twice. In this year's season opener against Eastern Washington, Maggie Lightheart led the way with six of her team's 15 aces. Additionally, on Saturday, she tallied seven more as part of a 14-ace night for the home team against New Haven.
NOTHING LIGHTHEARTED ABOUT HER
In the early stages of her junior season, Maggie Lightheart has dominated the competition and established multiple new individual bests. At SIU, the third-year Aggie went for a career-high 17 kills and 21 digs. Twenty-four hours later, she tallied 47 attempts, landing her 18th kill on the match-winning point and finished with a .319 hitting percentage.
The Las Cruces native now leads the team with 93 kills on the season after a 24-kill weekend in just six sets. Her 96 digs also rank highest on the team after leading the club in four of her past seven outings. Additionally, Lightheart paces all of Conference USA with 22 aces on the young campaign, placing her in a tie for seventh across all of NCAA Division I.
TESS IS MORE
After a stellar high school career, Tess Fuqua left the City of Crosses to go play for Arizona. Before seeing action, she tore her ACL, missing all of the 2023 season. In the spring of 2024, she suffered the same injury once again, ruling her out for the entirety of that fall as well. The Centennial High School product decided to rehab back home, transferring to NM State ahead of Fall 2024, where she watched from the Aggie bench.
This past offseason, Fuqua returned to the floor for her redshirt sophomore campaign. She has started all eight matches to begin 2025, leading her team in kills four times. Her 19 kills at SIU are the most by any Aggie in a single match this season. The Arizona transfer ranks among the squad's top three in kills (81), kills per set (2.79), digs (81), digs per set (2.79), service aces (10) and aces per set (0.34).
A LONG-AWAITED DEBUT
Jacqueline Corcoran came to NM State from Augusta, Kan., during the summer of 2024. The Circle High School product geared up all offseason and played in the Crimson & White scrimmage before redshirting the rest of the season.
Finally, after more than a year of practice and anticipation, the second-year Aggie made her collegiate debut earlier this month. Corcoran entered all three matches at the Saluki Bash, tallying two digs, two receptions and four serves in five sets of action. This past weekend, she notched the first three kills of her career against New Haven.
THE FOX SAID WHAT?!
As a freshman, Mia Fox appeared in 15 sets and landed 17 kills, recording a high of four kills in a single match. Across three contests at the UC San Diego Invitational to start this season, the sophomore obliterated her previous records in nearly every category. With six kills against EWU, nine versus Northwestern and 11 at UCSD, the middle blocker set a new personal best in each outing, tallying a total of 26 kills and more than doubling her career mark. Her total led the team on the weekend while she hit a remarkable .548 en route to CUSA's best opening-weekend clip. Defensively, she also added 10 total blocks, setting a new career best twice.
PERSONNEL GROWTH
The 2025 roster stands at an average of 6-foot-0, nearly an entire inch above the final 2024 edition. This fall's squad boasts six Aggies of at least six feet tall that were not active on the 2024 club, including four newcomers. Freshman Jaelynn Kohli and transfer Ezgi Duzgezen each stand at 6-foot-3 in their first year with the program. Kate Sinclair (6-foot-4) and Zoe Ziegler (6-foot-6) would each have been the tallest on last year's team, with the latter coming in as the tallest on record in program history. Peyton Castillo and Tess Fuqua were also both inactive in 2024 as they recovered from injury.
CAN'T GET RID OF 'EM
Over the offseason, several familiar faces returned to the Aggie staff. Twenty-eighth year head coach Mike Jordan brought back longtime assistant Chris Hertel after a season apart in which Hertel was head coach at Radford. Chelsea Rose, a member of the 2010 Aggie squad and former director of player development, also reclaimed a spot on the bench.
ENDLESS OPTIONS
With 20 student-athletes, the Aggies boast the largest roster in Conference USA for the second straight season. Additionally, six setters give the Crimson & White the most in the league once again. No other league program entered the season with more than four.
LOCAL PRODUCTS
Seven Aggies hail from the Land of Enchantment, including four from Las Cruces. Rilen Garcia, Maggie Lightheart, Tess Fuqua, Bella Castro, Jazlyn Vasquez, Mia Mendoza and Makayla Martinez all call the Land of Enchantment home. Mendoza (Los Lunas) and Martinez (Albuquerque) each call northern New Mexico home, coming to NM State from Los Lunas High School and Cibola High School, respectively. Jaelynn Kohli also recently graduated from Eastlake High School in El Paso, Texas.
SCOUTING THE LOBOS
Jon Newman-Gonchar is in his seventh season at the helm for New Mexico, boasting a 91-80 record with the program. UNM is off to a 7-2 start in 2025, similar to that of the Aggies. The Lobos entered last weekend undefeated, though, before dropping two of three contests out west, falling to Portland State and California Baptist.
Last year, the Lobos renewed their in-state rivalry after five years apart. UNM took both contests, drawing closer in the all-time series with NM State, who still holds a 47-32 advantage. The opening bout in Albuquerque was a four-set affair, with the visitors falling despite tallying more kills, blocks and aces than the Lobos.
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