TUCSON, Ariz. – The New Mexico State volleyball team fell to Arizona 19-25, 14-25, 20-25, at the Cactus Classic in Tucson, Ariz., on Friday night. The Aggies are now 1-1 at the Cactus Classic following a five-set win over UC San Diego earlier today.
 
"Arizona had too much for us," said head coach Mike Jordan. "They served it great and we were chasing the play way too often. Short turn around, we have to get ready to play early tomorrow."
 
The first set started back-and-forth with the Aggies (1-1, 0-0 WAC) trailing 18-16 late in the set following a block from Mari Sharp and Kalli Schoening. However, that's as close as NM State would get as Arizona (2-0, 0-0 Pac-12) won the set 25-19 on the back of a 7-3 run to end the set.
 
NM State was never able to find its footing in the second set and the Wildcats ran away with it, 25-14, to go up 2-0. The Aggies hung tough in the third set with the block coming up big several times. However, that proved to not be enough as Arizona closed out the set, and the match, 25-20.
 
The Aggies and Wildcats each finished with six blocks with Lia Mosher leading the way for NM State with three blocks. Victoria Barrett and Darian Markham both finished with 11 digs while Shaney Lipscomb and Katie Birtcil had five kills apiece.
 
NM State now eyes a showdown with Marist in its final match at the Cactus Classic, tomorrow, Aug. 28, at 12 p.m. (MDT). Aggie fans can stream all the action live on the Pac-12 Network with live stats provided by StatBroadcast.