NMSU volleyball captures second straight WAC regular season title

(Courtesy: NMSU Athletics)

LAS CRUCES, New Mexico - It didn’t matter that they couldn’t practice in Las Cruces until Jan. 19.  

It didn’t matter that they couldn't play their first home match until March 15.  

Nothing thrown at the Aggies mattered, as the New Mexico State volleyball team repeated as Western Athletic Conference regular-season champions with a 25-20, 25-17, 25-20 sweep of Tarleton at the Pan American Center on Wednesday afternoon.

This is the fifth regular-season title for the Aggies in the last six seasons. 

“It feels great to have overcome everything we’ve overcome,” said head coach Mike Jordan. “We lost the best middle in the conference (Julianna Salanoa) and still did a lot of good stuff this season.” 

NM State (13-1, 13-1 WAC) would not be denied, hitting .320 in the first set with 20 kills and just four errors to take it 25-20.

After middles Lia Mosher and Lindsay Blakey combined to hit 24 kills in yesterday’s match, the Texans (10-11, 6-8) did a good job stuffing the middle.

However, this opened up the pins for the Aggies and Victoria Barrett hit seven kills in the frame with Savannah Davison and Shaney Lipscomb each adding four.  

The Aggies kept their foot on the gas in the second set and held the Texans to -.053 hitting and took the set 25-17.

Lipscomb and Davison added four more kills apiece in the second frame. NM State then opened the third set with a 17-11 lead before the Texans forced an Aggie timeout after cutting the deficit to 19-16.

Tarleton eventually pulled within two points, 21-19, before NM State closed the set on a 4-1 run to complete the sweep.  

Davison and Barrett each hit 12 kills and came up with 2 blocks as Davison hit .321 with just three errors. 

Barrett finished her day with 11 digs for her fourth-straight double-double while Lipscomb smashed 10 kills on the afternoon.

Junior setter Carly Aigner-Swesey dished out assists on 21 of NM State’s 51 kills while Natalie Mikels added 20.  

As a team, the Aggies hit .277 and held the Texans to .065 hitting while forcing 19 attack errors from the Texans. 

NM State now hits the road to wrap-up the regular season in the Windy City with a pair of matches against Chicago State on Monday, March 22, at 6 p.m. (MT) and Tuesday, March 23, at 12 p.m.

Both matches are scheduled to broadcast live on the WAC Digital Network.