PHOENIX – Despite 16 kills apiece from
Shaney Lipscomb and
Katie Birtcil, the NM State Aggies volleyball program fell in four sets (18-25, 25-13, 21-25, 17-25) to the Sam Houston State Bearkats Friday night at GCU Arena.
Playing their second match in two evenings, the Aggies (15-5, 6-2 WAC) could not ride the momentum from last night's straight set drubbing of Stephen F. Austin.
SET ONE:
The Bearkats (11-7, 4-2 WAC) used four early errors by the Aggies to score 10 of the first 15 points to take an early 10-5 lead.
Sensing the set slipping away, head coach
Mike Jordan burned his first timeout to try and bring the Aggies back. SHSU was unfazed however and scored eight of the next 12 points to take a commanding 18-9 lead in set one.
Led by the hot hand of Libscomb, the Aggies mounted a little bit of a rally to get to within seven twice (20-13/22-15), but Sam Houston was able to hold on for a 25-18 opening set victory.
SET TWO:
The second set of the match was more typical for NM State, as the Aggies used strong serving from
Carly Aigner-Swesey and Marti Sharp to score six of the first seven.
SHSU would rally however, using a pair of aces, to score four of the next five points. The mini- run cut the Aggies advantage to just 7-5.
Needing an answer, the Aggies did just that, using strong serving from
Alana Embry to rattle off a 7-0 run. The spurt was highlighted by three kills from
Lia Mosher and an Embry ace that gave the Aggies a nine-point advantage (14-5).
The two teams traded the next 12 points, allowing NM State to close to within five points (20-11) of the second set.
After a kill from
Cat Kelly gave the Aggies a commanding 21-11 lead, NM State scored four of the final six points to cruise to a 25-13 set victory.
SET THREE:
In the pivotal third set, the Aggies again got off to a slow start, as Sam Houston scored six of the first nine to double-up (6-3) its opponent.
Facing another bit of adversity, the Aggies roared to life, scoring eight of the next 11 to take an 11-9 lead after 20 points.
As they did the entire night outside of the second set, the Bearkats answered the NM State run with an 11-4 spurt that turned a two-point deficit into a 20-15 advantage.
The Aggies could go no closer than three points (24-21) over the final 11 points, as Sam Houston held on for an important 25-21 set three victory.
SET FOUR:
Looking to send the match to a best-of-15 fifth and final set, the Aggies raced out to an early 6-4 advantage through the first 10 points of the fourth.
Like the third set, Sam Houston used a clutch 5-1 run to flip the two-point deficit into a two-point advantage.
After the Aggies scored three of the next four to bring the set all even at 10, Sam Houston used three NM State errors to spark a 7-1 run that gave them a commanding 17-11 advantage.
NM State answered with three straight and five of seven to pull to within 19-16, but one last 6-1 run sealed the fourth and final set that gave the first-place Bearkats (Southwest) a victory over the first-place (West) Aggies.
The setback was the Aggies' first neutral site defeat of the season. NM State was previously 7-0 at neutral sites. Despite the loss the Aggies' are still 12-3 in the last 15 matches.
HEAD COACH MIKE JORDAN:
"We were out competed tonight, but all credit goes to Sam Houston. We were good enough offensively but did not serve it at a high enough level. And then our block and digs were even worse than our service game. Hopefully, we'll learn how to toughen up when adversity hits."
UP NEXT:
The Aggies close the month of October on the road at California Baptist (Oct. 28) and at Seattle (Oct. 30). The road contests will be the final two of the seasons for the Aggies, as NM State plays its final four matches at home before hosting the 2021 WAC Tournament.
The Aggies dropped a five-set heartbreaker to the Lancers back on Oct. 2 and swept the Redhawks on Sept. 30 at the the Pan American Center. The loss to CBU snapped the Aggies nine-match winning streak and was the first WAC loss inside the Pan Am since Oct. 27, 2018.
