LAS CRUCES, N.M. – New Mexico State started slowly, but came on strong at the end as the Aggies beat Missouri-Kansas City 3-1 on Saturday to remain unbeaten in Western Athletic Conference play.
 
NM State (13-5, 3-0) handed UMKC (9-5, 2-2) the loss 17-25, 25-16, 25-19, 25-17 at the Pan American Center in front of 1,233 fans.  The Aggies are alone in the lead of the WAC.
 
"UMKC is a very good team, I think they're a little banged up right now," said NM State Head Coach Mike Jordan. "We got off to a slow start, but we changed a little bit and started doing what we're capable of doing."
 
The Aggies got 16 kills from senior All-American candidate Gwen Murphy of Elfrida, Ariz./Valley Union. Murphy also hit .600 for the match and tallied six total blocks.
 
"She's a great player, she's versatile, and the setters did a pretty good job of finding her and getting her when we needed to," said Jordan.
 
Senior Andrea Tauai, of Tauranga, New Zealand, sophomore Sasha-Lee Thomas of Pottsville, Pa., and freshman Tatyana Battle of Albuquerque, N.M./Cibola each tallied nine kills as well.
 
Senior Bradley Nash of Kayenta, Ariz./Monument Valley added joined Murphy with six total blocks.
 
UMKC was paced by senior Jessica Hendin who posted 14 kills, while junior Madison Mosier chalked up 11 kills.
 
The Kangaroos took advantage of Aggie mistakes to take set one 25-17, based on a great attack.
 
"We let them hit a tremendous percentage, .361 in the first set," said Jordan. "We had to get a better defensive effort. We stood and watched a lot of balls when they got hit by the block and you can't play bad 'D'. But once we started playing better D, our block helped us a little bit, we started winning the serve and pass battle, and we were in control from there."
 
NM State didn't allow UMKC to hit above .188 for the final three sets. The Aggies hit .346 for the night, while UMKC managed to hit .197.
 
The Aggies came back to dominate in the second set 25-16, allowing UMKC to have two brief leads. But that would be the last time the 'Roos would hold an advantage. NM State never trailed in winning 25-19 and 25-17 in the third and fourth sets.
 
The Aggies extended their winning streak to four straight with the victory. They're in action again next weekend on the road in WAC play visiting Grand Canyon on Thursday and CSU Bakersfield next Saturday.