In New Mexico State's final non-conference tilt of the regular season, it dropped a five-set heartbreaker to rival UTEP at the Pan American Center.
 
For the Aggies, Katie Birtcil led the way with 25 kills, while Cat Kelly add 12 and Shaney Lipscomb finished with 10. Freshman Sidney McIntosh also had a breakout performance, posting a career-high six kills.
 
This marks just the first time since 2001 that UTEP has swept the Aggies and only the second time in the last 27 matches that the Miners came out on the right side of the I-10 rivalry.
 
SET ONE | NM State 26, UTEP 24
Birtcil came out swinging and landed three early kills as the Aggies led 5-4. It then appeared to be all Miners before a four-point Aggie run cut an eight-point UTEP lead to just two. A Birtcil kill finally gave the Aggies the lead to completely erase the deficit. The Aggies would eventually take set one, finishing on a five-point streak capped off by a Shaney Lipscomb termination.
 
SET TWO | NM State 25, UTEP 19
The second set was tight early before the tide seemed to swing after a Sidney McIntosh kill to put the Aggies up 13-12. McIntosh finished with a pair of kills in the second. The Aggies finished the second on a 12-7 run to take a 2-0 lead.
 
SET THREE | UTEP 25, NM State 23
Set three was the tightest set of the match as the set included 11 ties, while the biggest lead for either squad was just three points. The Aggies picked up a pair of back-to-back points to lead 11-10 before a Paulina Perez Rosas kill capped off a three-point run for the Miners. Perez Rosas was the Miners kill leader on the night as she finished with 20 kills with five coming in the third. Despite a service error to bring the Miner lead to just one at 24-23, UTEP finished off the third with a 25-23 set victory.
 
SET FOUR | UTEP 25, NM State 19
New Mexico State looked flat to open the fourth set, falling behind 1-6 to start. An Alana Embry ace then highlighted a three-point run to cut the lead to three at 7-10. However, three points would be the closest the Aggies would get as the Aggies dropped the fourth set 19-25.
 
SET FIVE | UTEP 15, NM State 13
The final set was close before the media timeout as Kelly and Lipscomb had a pair of huge kills to put the score at 7-7. Coming out of the break, the Miners pulled out to a 13-8 lead. Similar to set one, the Aggies then made a late push capped off by consecutive Mari Sharp kills, cutting the lead to one at 13-14. A missed swing would eventually put the Aggies away with the final score sitting at 13-15.
 
 COMING UP NEXT
The Aggies will be back at home with a chance to claim the WAC's West Division regular season title. NM State will host a tough Chicago State squad with first serve set for 11 a.m. Fans can catch Saturday's match on WACDigitalNetwork.com.