First Serve
• The Aggies head into Wednesday's non-conference arrangement with Chicago State following their second five-set match in three days as they fell to UTRGV in five sets on Monday evening.
• Although the midweek matchup against the Cougars will be labeled as a non-conference tilt, NM State is very familiar with Tony Trifonov's squad given Chicago State spent 10 seasons in the WAC (2013-21). Despite the opportunity to do so, Chicago State has yet to defeat the Aggies - posting an 0-19 record against the Aggies in program history.
Last Time Out | UTRGV 3, NM State 2 (25-17, 23-25, 22-25, 25-14, 15-9)
• NM State gave the lone program that remains with an undefeated WAC record all they could handle on Monday night - pushing the Vaqueros to just its second five-set match in league play.
• In the loss, the Aggies were led by
Molly Johnson who finished the match with a team-high 15 kills and 18.5 points while managing a .289 hitting percentage following a match against Sam Houston in which she set new career highs in kills (17), attempts (38), digs (21), blocks (7) and assists (3).
• Johnson also added five blocks to finish second in a category led by
Lia Mosher who concluded the night with six total blocks.
• Elsewhere, NM State was led in digs by
Darian Markham who finished with 25 to post her third-straight match with 20-plus digs. Johnson also chipped in 16 digs.
Wednesday Notes
• Currently, both
Lia Mosher and
Rylee Fay are among the best in the WAC as Mosher continues to lead the conference in hitting percentage (.366) and Fay paces the league in service aces per set (0.61). Fay also ranks 11th in the country in aces per set.
• In addition to her dominance this season,
Lia Mosher continues to move up the all-time ranks in program history. The sixth-year senior currently sits in fifth all-time in Aggie history in both total blocks (434) and fourth in block assists (363) while she ranks 10th in solo blocks (71). She also ranks second all-time in career hitting percentage at .348.
• Meanwhile,
Katie Birtcil's mark of 3.42 kills per set and
Darian Markham's 4.48 digs per set average rank fourth in the conference.
• As a team, the Aggies are currently holding opponents to a .184 combined hitting percentage - a mark that is good for third in the conference.
• The Aggies also rank third in the league in assists (11.89) and kills (12.82).
• With yet another seven-ace outing against Southern Utah earlier this season, Fay is the only server in the country to achieve seven or more aces in multiple four-set contests.
Keep Up with the Aggies
Aggie fans interested in purchasing tickets to the non-conference collision can do so via this link or by calling the Pan American ticket office at (575) 646-1420. Meanwhile, those unable to attend can follow the match from home by watching on wacinternational.tv or by listening to the radio broadcast on 91.5 FM KRUX. Play-by-play from
Adam Young will be simulcast on both the stream and radio.
Live stats will also be available to fans this weekend via StatBroadcast at this link: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=418502.
Scouting Chicago State
Led by 26-year coaching veteran and 2021 WAC Coach of the Year Tony Trifonov, the Cougars enter Wednesday with an overall record of 5-10 on the season. One year removed from its time spent in the WAC, Chicago State is trudging through the 2022 season as an independent.
However, this will be the Cougars' second-straight match against a WAC opponent as they are coming off a 3-1 loss at Utah Valley last Thursday. This marked CSU's second-straight loss after putting together a pair of two consecutive wins.
Individually, Chicago State is led by 2021 WAC Player of the Year and 2021 AVCA Honorable Mention All-American Yanlis Feliz. Feliz paces the Cougars with 4.66 kills per set while hitting a solid .220 on the season. Yunju Lee and Jaclyn Inclan will be the two tasked with setting Feliz and the other attackers as Lee averages a team-high 5.05 assists per set and Inclan follows closely behind at 4.40 assists per set.
Meanwhile, Mesalina Severino leads the way for the CSU defense as she accounts for 1.06 blocks per set. Andrea Calderon leads the team in digs per set at 3.93.
Up Next
Following Wednesday's match against Chicago State, the Aggies will return to league play as they travel to Riverside, Calif., for a meeting with California Baptist on Thursday, Oct. 20.
NM State will then wrap up its road swing with a match two days later at Grand Canyon before returning home to play host to UT Arlington on Thursday, Oct. 27.
