Match Twenty-Nine
NM State (19-9, 10-4 WAC) vs. UNLV (23-9, 12-6 MW)
Friday, Dec. 3, 3 p.m. (MT) | McKale Memorial Center | Tucson, Ariz.
Watch | Live Stats | Tickets | NM State Match Notes | UNLV Match Notes

THE FIRST SERVE

• The Aggies are primed to make their first ever appearance in the NIVC Tournament as they take on UNLV in Tucson, Ariz., on Friday evening.

• An Aggie victory on Friday would put NM State across from the victor between fellow WAC foe UT Rio Grande Valley and host Arizona on Saturday, Dec. 4, in the second round of the 2021 NIVC Tournament.

• In total, there are eight host sites for the first and second rounds of the NIVC Tournament. Additionally, five WAC schools are included in the field of the tournament, including Chicago State and Stephen F. Austin who will host first and second round matches.

SERIES HISTORY

Overall vs. UNLV | 2-5 (.286)

In Las Cruces, N.M. | 1-0 (1.000)

In Las Vegas, Nev. | 0-2 (.000)

At neutral sites | 1-3 (.250)

Streak | NM State won 1

Last five matches | 1-4 (.200)

Last 10 matches | 2-5 (.286)

In three-set matches | 0-2 (.000)

In four-set matches | 2-1 (.667)

In five-set matches | 0-1 (.000)

Jordan vs. UNLV | 1-1 (.500)

Sullivan vs. NM State | 0-0 (.000)

Last meeting | at NM State 3, UNLV 1 (Sept. 2, 2017)

WAC ATTACK

• A new-look Western Athletic Conference is making its debut season in the 2021-22 season, and the Aggies are hoping to continue their dominance in the league.

• Now in his 24th season in charge at NM State, head coach Mike Jordan has been nothing short of masterful in league action throughout his tenure. The Aggies' bench boss owns an impressive 290-78 (.788) mark in regular-season WAC showdowns as well as a 30-13 (.698) record in WAC Tournament bouts.

• NM State has been especially effective in racking up all manner of WAC hardware through the last seven seasons. In that span, the Aggies are 89-12 (.881) against league opposition in regular-season tilts and have claimed five regular-season WAC crowns as well as a trio of WAC Tournament titles.

• Since joining the WAC in 2005, NM State has secured seven regular-season titles. All told, Jordan has claimed 11 conference titles since his run in Las Cruces began in 1998.

LAST TIME OUT | Utah Valley 3, at NM State 2 | Thursday, Nov. 18, 2021

• The Aggies fell in five sets in the to eventual WAC Tournament Champion Utah Valley in the quarterfinals of the WAC Tournament in the Pan American Center.

• Katie Birtcil continued her dominant streak, leading NM State with 24 kills on .238 hitting while adding four blocks.

• Senior Shaney Lipscomb finished second on the team with 14 kills and four blocks in the postseason match.

• Carly Aigner-Swesey put together another impressive line, posting 50-plus assists for the third time in her last four outings.

• This marks the first time since 2016-17 that the Aggies were eliminated from the WAC Tournament in consecutive years.

ABOUT THE AGGIES

• This will be the first time NM State competes in the NIVC Tournament in program history.

• The Aggies head to Arizona as the WAC's leader in no fewer than five statistical categories including assists per set (12.55), kills per set (13.68), attack percentage (.258), total assists (1,368) and total kills (1,491).

• Senior middle blocker Lia Mosher continues to lead the WAC while ranking among the top players in the nation in terms of attack percentage. The Rui- doso, N.M., product is hitting .404 which ranks 18th among all NCAA Division I volleyball players.

• The hard-hitting tandem of Katie Birtcil and Shaney Lipscomb give the Aggies two of the top-15 arms in the WAC. Birtcil's 3.67 kills per set rank fifth among all league players while Lipscomb's figure of 2.86 is the 11th-best in the league.

• With 12 more digs in the WAC Tournament, libero Darian Markham pushed her digs per set average to 4.22 which ranks sixth among all WAC players.

• Carly Aigner-Swesey added 46 assists to her season total in the regular season finale against Chicago State, giving her an average of 10.33 assists per set in WAC play to rank second against WAC opponents.

SCOUTING UNLV

• After making a run to the Mountain West Tournament championship match, the Rebels fell to sixth-seeded Boise State in four sets at Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas.

• UNLV heads to Tucson, Ariz., with 23 wins on the season, marking its highest win total since 2016 when they collected 24 victories.

• The Rebels have been playing their best volleyball late in the year as they were riding a seven-match winning streak before being upended in the title match.

• Play at the net is one of UNLV's strengths as they rank inside the top-30 in Division I in hitting percentage (26th, .265), team kills (17th, 1,602) and team total blocks (13th, 295.0).

• At 78 total service aces and 0.70 aces per set, Senior Mariena Hayden ranks first in the nation in both categories.

• Hayden also ranks inside the top-50 in the nation and first in the Mountain West in kills per set as she leads the Rebels with 4.03 kills per set.

• Jordyn Freeman enters the meeting with the Aggies as UNLV's top blocker, as she rejects 1.16 attacks per set.

COMING UP NEXT

• The Aggies are in win-or-go-home mode in the NIVC Tournament with the winner of Friday's matchup moving on to Round 2 to face the winner between UT Rio Grande Valley and Arizona on Saturday evening.

AGGIE ACCOLADES

• Heading into the season, the Aggies ranked 14th among NCAA Division I programs with a .749 winning percentage from 2016-20. Counting matches played this season, NM State holds a .786 winning percentage since 2016 with an overall record of 118-32. 

• NM State picked up its first win against a Big 10 opponent since Sept. 20, 1986, with a five-set win over Northwestern in the Pan Am on March 3, 2021.  

• Alana Embry picked up the first two double-doubles of her career against Northwestern (19 assists, 12 digs) and UTEP (22 assists, 15 digs).

• Senior setter Carly Aigner-Swesey now has five double-doubles on the year after notching 15 assists and 10 digs against Western Carolina at the Colonel Challenge.  

• Kalli Schoening was unstoppable against Western Carolina, as she recorded a career-high seven blocks against the Catamounts. 

• Libero Darian Markham was named WAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, Sept. 13, after averaging 4.89 digs per set at the Colonel Challenge.

• Cat Kelly posted her first double-double of the season in the Aggies' 3-0 win over South Florida on Sept. 17, 2021. Kelly registered 10 kills and an equal number of digs in NM State's victory. 

• After not being able to play a non-conference schedule in the spring 2021 season, the Aggies did so this season. Through non-conference play, NM State has posted a 9-3 record - the exact same mark as they did in 2019 en route to a 16-0 WAC record, the league's regular-season title and the WAC Tournament title. 

• Katie Birtcil's 24 kills in the Aggies' 3-1 win at Utah Valley on Sept. 23, 2021, represented the second-highest total by a WAC player in a four-set match this season. Additionally, those 24 kills rank as the 19th-most by an NCAA Division I player in a four-set match this season. For her efforts, Birtcil was named the WAC's Offensive Player of the Week on Monday, Sept. 27.

• The Aggies' Lia Mosher earned the third WAC Athlete of the Week award for the Aggies this season when she was named WAC Defensive Player of the Week on Monday, Nov. 15. She was a dominant defensive force for the Aggies as she record four blocks against UTEP on Nov. 10. She then backed up that performance with her second-highest block total this season when she notched six blocks against Chicago State in the Aggies' final regular season match of the year.