OREM, Utah - With Monday night's setback still fresh in their minds, the members of the NM State volleyball team set out on a mission to make sure their stay in the loss column was a short-lived one.
Savannah Davison struck for a match-high 11 kills, Victoria Barrett added 10 more as well as a match-high 17 digs and the Aggies put the hammer down on Utah Valley by blasting the Wolverines 3-0 Tuesday afternoon at Lockhart Arena.
NM State, who saw its 34-match winning streak against WAC opponents come to an end at the hands of Utah Valley Monday night, got back in the win column by utilizing a strong all-around performance.
SET ONE | NM State 25, Utah Valley 23
• For most of the opening frame, the Wolverines managed to sustain the momentum they collected from Monday night's upset victory. It wasn't until the final stages of the set that the Aggies made sure Utah Valley's winning ways against them came to an end.
• Trailing 20-17, the first of two Utah Valley service errors allowed the Aggies to commence a 6-0 scoring surge. Victoria Barrett and Lia Mosher each hammered home a pair of terminations through that run to help the visitors take a 23-20 lead.
• Utah Valley rallied, creeping within one points, 23-22, off of an NM State service error and a Tiro Dorius kill, but the Aggies finished strong.
• Barrett blasted down the final pair of her four kills in the set over the final three points to hand the Aggies the two-point victory.
• NM State came out swinging in the first frame, generating 19 terminations and hitting .213 while holding Utah Valley to an attacking clip of .229 through the set.
SET TWO | NM State 25, Utah Valley 18
• The Aggies' offense continued to crescendo, swinging at a rate of .235 in the middle set and their service game kept the Wolverines on their heels, too.
• With things knotted at 13-all, Savannah Davison swung down on the third of her four kills in the set to begin a set-changing 8-1 run by the Aggies. Through that surge, Davison destroyed two balls while Barrett and Darian Markham each generates terminations, too.
• Following that scoring surge, NM State's lead stood at 21-14 and the Wolverines never recovered. As mentioned, the Aggies' service game allowed them to go up 2-0 as Carly Aigner-Swesey, Markham and Natalie Mikels each fired in aces in their team's set two triumph.
• Defense was a key component of the Aggies' win, too, as they limited Utah Valley to an attack percentage of just .065 through the frame.
SET THREE | NM State 25, Utah Valley 16
• NM State was at its peak in the final frame, putting the Wolverines down with a devastating combination of offense, defense and service prowess.
• Katie Birtcil blasted down a kill and Mosher followed it up with the first of three Aggie service aces in the frame to break a 3-3 tie early. Those consecutive NM State points represented the starting point of an 8-2 NM State run which was capped off by a combo block by Lindsay Blakey and Davison.
• That rejection pushed the Aggies' lead to 11-5 and Utah Valley never got closer than four points away for the rest of the afternoon.
• A 4-1 Wolverine run featuring two Kristen Bell kills cut NM State's lead down to 19-14, but four different Aggie attackers closed things out. Blakey, Davison, Lipscomb and Mosher pounded home terminations during the Aggies' 6-2 surge to seal the win.
• NM State hit .371 through the final frame and was able to keep up its defensive bite, too, by limiting the Wolverines to a hitting percentage of .138 in the set.
KEY PERFORMERS/STATISTICS OF NOTE
• Barrett (12 kills, 17 digs) and Davison (11 kills, 12 digs) delivered double-doubles for the visitors in their victory. Lipscomb added 10 terminations of her own while Mosher manufactured eight kills to go along with a team-best four blocks.
• Mikels passed out a match-high 26 assists while adding one of the Aggies' seven service winners.
• No Utah Valley player reached the double-digit termination mark and Dorius led the way for the home squad with seven kills and six digs. NM State held the Wolverines' attack to a mark of .147 on the afternoon.
HEAD COACH MIKE JORDAN'S THOUGHTS | "We improved as the match wore on. The players made better choices today and other than set one we were way less error-prone than yesterday. We need to rest and get back in the gym with some energy and keep working to improve."
COMING UP NEXT
• Down to just four regular season matches remaining on their schedule, the Aggies return "home" to University Gym in El Paso, Texas, for their next pair of league tilts. Tarleton State heads to the Sun City to face off against NM State next Monday (March 15) and Tuesday (March 16).
++NM State++
