Lobos top Aggies in round one of Battle of I-25

ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico - NM State and New Mexico rekindled its volleyball rivalry on Tuesday after more than five years. NM State (4-5) failed to overcome 24 attack errors and 14 service errors, falling in four sets. The Aggies and Lobos (6-3) will square off once more this season from the Pan American Center on Thursday at 6:00 PM. 

Set-by-set: NM State loses 1-3 (19-25, 25-20, 23-25, 21-25)

FIRST SET 

While the two sides started knotted at 3-3, the home crowd fueled an 11-3 run to the Lobos ahead by as many as eight. A 7-2 Aggie response pulled them within three points, highlighted by three kills from Starr Williams. Despite a combined nine kills on .400 hitting percentage from Williams and Mari Sharp, the Aggies fell short with four service errors contributing to a 25-19 opening-set defeat.

SECOND SET

In a flash, NM State was ahead 7-4 and Starr Williams trotted to the bench with 11 kills already to her name. The home later side put together a 5-0 run that forced Head Coach Mike Jordan into a timeout. While the set had eight ties and four lead changes, UNM still clung to a slim lead late in the stanza. True freshman and Albuquerque native Makayla Martinez entered and immediately recorded her sixth service ace of the season, sparking a 7-0 spurt for the visitors to pull ahead 23-18. Several points later, Nicole Briggs closed out the frame with a kill and evened the match at one set apiece.   

THIRD SET

The rivalry appeared most intense in set three, as neither side was able to pull away by more than a single point for the first 21 rallies of the frame. The margin would stay within two until a Lobo kill put them ahead 19-16, prompting a stoppage from the Aggie bench. While setter Claudia Rossi staved off the first set point with a kill, the Lobos closed out the set 25-23 on the ensuing point. Ultimately, UNM’s .371 hitting percentage was more than double that of the Aggies (.175), granting the home side a 2-1 set lead.

FOURTH SET

The final frame proved to be the least competitive of the match, with just two ties and one lead change, all in the first 11 points of the set. The Aggies pulled ahead 3-0 on a Nellie Reese service ace and back-to-back kills from Williams, but quickly found themselves in a tied game at 5-5. While several runs looked promising, eight fourth-set attack errors proved untimely and costly, halting any progress for the road team. UNM prevailed 25-21 to seal the win.

NUMBERS OF NOTE

• Starr Williams recorded a season high with 20 kills. Entering the night, Williams’ best in 2024 was 16, which she recorded three times.
• The Ontario, Calif. native fell just shy of her career-high 23 kills, which she posted last season against Saint Louis. 
• NM State matched its season high with 14 service errors in the match.
• The Crimson & White posted their second most attack errors this season (24), only tallying more against San Francisco (30) in five sets
• In the Aggies’ losses this season, UNM’s 51 kills rank fewest among all opponents.
• Nellie Reese broke a career record with 14 digs, besting her previous high of 13.
• Reese joined fellow transfer setter Claudia Rossi with two service aces on the night, which marked a new career-high for Rossi.
• NM State lost the digging battle by 10 (61-71); the second-largest negative discrepancy this season (at Georgia Tech – 14)

FROM THE FLOOR

Head Coach Mike Jordan, on the win: “Our serve and block game is just terrible at times. I’ve been working on it, but we’re not effectively changing well enough and fast enough. There were seven or eight balls tight, that we should have stuffed to the floor, but they [UNM] just hit it past us to the floor. That can’t just happen at this level of play. Some teams can overcome their errors if they’re good at stopping people. It’s tough to stop people if you don’t serve it well or you have untimely service errors and your block is that bad. We can’t go on sustained point runs because of it, and until that changes, we’re at risk.”

UP NEXT

The Aggies will head home on Tuesday night in preparation for the Lobos’ arrival less than 48 hours later. UNM will visit the Pan American Center on Thursday at 6:00 PM as the Aggies gear up for another three-match weekend at home. The final 2024 regular-season installment of the Battle of I-25 will be streamed live on ESPN+ and available to follow via LiveStats at nmstatestats.com