LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Early on Thursday night, the NM State volleyball team was sitting in second place in the WAC's West Division standings.
By the time their first home match in nearly three weeks was in the books, not only did the Aggies have a win in hand, they found themselves back atop the league's division standings, too.
Katie Birtcil pounded down a match-high 14 kills,
Cat Kelly and
Lia Mosher added nine more each and NM State worked its way past Dixie State in three sets inside the Pan American Center.
Coupled with a California Baptist loss at Chicago State, NM State moved back into a three-way tie for the top spot in the WAC's West Division standings with two regular-season league matches to go in the regular season.
SET ONE | NM State 25, Dixie State 19
• Showing off their impressive offense to their home crowd for the first time in the month of November, the Aggies received a trio of terminations from Birtcil and two more from
Mari Sharp through their 6-3 surge to begin the match.
• NM State's lead grew to 11-6 following Birtcil's fourth and final termination of the set, but Dixie State didn't go down easily. The Trailblazers answered Birtcil's last kill in the frame with a 10-3 run which featured a trio of Bridgett Talia kills and two more terminations off the hands of Megan Treanor.
• That Dixie State surge put the Aggies at a 16-14 disadvantage, but the hosts regained their footing from there. Thanks in large part to
Cat Kelly, NM State closed the set on an 11-3 run to take a 1-0 lead. Kelly pounded down four of her five kills in the set through the Aggies' final scoring spree while
Shaney Lipscomb added two of her own in addition to one of NM State's three service aces.
• In all, 18 of the Aggies' 48 kills occurred in the opening frame and the Aggies limited the Trailblazers to an attacking clip of .200 through the set.
SET TWO | NM State 25, Dixie State 14
• Showing no signs of slowing down, NM State opened the second set on an 8-2 run behind its front-row defense.
Lia Mosher built up a wall at the front of the net. The senior racked up a solo block and a pair of block assists throughout that set-opening surge.
• Another sizable run, this one of the 9-1 variety, extended NM State's big lead. With their advantage down to 10-7, Mosher powered down three kills as did Birtcil to hike the hosts' edge to 19-8.
• Dixie State drew somewhat closer by grabbing six of the next 10 points, but back-to-back terminations courtesy of Lipscomb ended the frame and put the Aggies just one set away from victory.
• Operating at its most efficient clip of the night, NM State's offense attacked at an eye-popping clip of .650 in the middle frame. The Aggies committed just a single error while striking for 14 terminations on 20 swings.
SET THREE | NM State 28, Dixie State 26
• Hoping to put Thursday night's match in the books quickly, NM State received a pair of kills from
Mari Sharp and another from Mosher on its 6-2 run to start the final frame.
• The Aggies' lead grew to as high as five, 18-13, after consecutive terminations from Birtcil. A 4-1 NM State surge capped off by
Darian Markham's first and only service ace of the night put the score at 22-16 in favor of the home team, but Dixie State tried its hardest to force a fourth frame.
• The Trailblazers took off on an 8-2 run to tie matters at 24-24. Three kills from Talia and another two from Hannah Howard were the catalyst of that run and made the set go to extra points.
• Two more deadlocks – one at 25-25 and another at 26-26 – occurred before NM State got the consecutive points it needed to close out the match. The last of the Trailblazers' 18 attack errors on the night was followed up by Mosher's ninth and final kill to put an end to the match.
KEY PERFORMERS/STATISTICS OF NOTE
• Birtcil's 14 terminations came on the strength of a .429 attack percentage while Mosher hit .500 on the night.
• Kelly's nine kills came on the strength of a .286 hitting percentage while Birtcil finished up a double-double effort with 11 of the Aggies' 42 digs.
• Directing the Aggies' offense,
Carly Aigner-Swesey dished out 41 of NM State's 45 assists and served up two of the hosts' six service aces.
• Lipscomb added seven kills and two aces of her own to go along with one of the Aggies' two solo blocks on the night.
• Talia totaled a team-best 13 terminations for Dixie State who dropped its third-consecutive match.
COMING UP NEXT
• The Aggies have little time to celebrate their win as they hope to keep their place at the top of the WAC's West Division standings Saturday afternoon. That day, at 1:00 p.m., Utah Valley pays a visit to the Pan American Center in the hopes of putting an end to the league's longest active winning streak.
++NM State++
