First Serve
• NM State will look to bounce back on Thursday as they welcome the Mavericks after falling in Phoenix on Saturday afternoon.
• The contest in the Pan American Center on Thursday night could potentially have major implications on the WAC Tournament seeding scenarios as NM State enters the match sitting in sixth in the WAC standings while UTA resides in fourth.
Last Time Out | Grand Canyon 3, NM State 0 (25-20, 25-22, 25-18)
• The Aggies (12-8, 4-4 WAC) two-match win streak came to a close on Saturday afternoon as they fell to Grand Canyon (11-9, 5-4 WAC) in three sets.
•
Molly Johnson led the way for the Aggies on the offensive end – finishing the day with 12 kills.
•
Mia Peterson also put together a solid stat line as she posted eight kills on .318 hitting while also chipping in 13 digs to finish the match one dig shy of her career-high.
•
Molly Johnson continued her strong stretch of play as she totaled 10-plus kills for the fifth-straight match – finishing with a team-high 12.
•
Kacia Brown tied her career-high in blocks as she tallied two total rejections against the Lopes on Saturday.
Cream of the Conference Crop
• Currently,
Rylee Fay is among the best in the WAC in a pair of categories as she paces the league in service aces per set (0.58) while ranking ninth in assists per set (6.14).
• Meanwhile, Mosher ranks second in the conference in hitting percentage (.367) and fifth in blocks per set (1.10).
• The attack of
Katie Birtcil has also been one of the most effective in the league this season as she ranks fourth in kills per set at 3.36 across 69 sets on the season. The do-it-all outside hitter also ranks fifth in points per set (3.71).
• Leading the Aggies' defense,
Darian Markham tallies the fourth-most digs among league Liberos at 4.47 per set.
• As a team, the Aggies are currently holding opponents to a .178 combined hitting percentage - a mark that is good for second in the conference.
• Also, the Aggies rank third in the league in assists (11.97) and kills (12.90) as a team.
Leaderboard Lia
• 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 (444) and fourth in block assists (371) while she ranks 10th in solo blocks (73). She also ranks second all-time in career hitting percentage at .349.
Markham Better Than Most
Now in her third season with the Crimson & White,
Darian Markham has tallied 964 digs across 232 sets to average 4.16 digs per set with the Aggies. With that, the junior from McKinney, Texas, currently sits in second all time in digs per set in Aggie history.
The 'A' in Fay Stands for Ace
• The sophomore setter from Iowa City, Iowa is quickly putting together one of the best seasons in program history from the service line. She is currently responsible for 42 of the Aggies' 106 aces on the season - a mark that is just four away from cracking the top-10 in program history in single-season ace totals.
• From an individual match perspective, Fay put together two of the best performances by anyone to wear the Crimson & White. On Sept. 2, Fay recorded seven aces in a four-set win over North Carolina A&T to put herself in a tie for the most by any Aggie in a four-set match.
• Later in the season, Fay would equal that feat by notching seven aces in a four-set win over Southern Utah. With that seven-ace outing against the Trailblazers, Fay is the only server in the country to achieve seven or more aces in multiple four-set contests.
• Fay also prides herself as one of the most consistent servers in the country as she ranks eighth among all Division I servers in aces per set at 0.58.
Defending Our Side in Riverside
•
Taylor Snows 11-block outing against the Lancers last Thursday put her in elite company as the single-match total places her in a tie for second-most in program history in a four-set match. The last time an Aggie recorded such numbers? Julianna Salanoa on Oct. 7, 2019, who also engineered an 11-block performance on the road against the Lancers.
• The dominant defensive showing from the Aggies also produced the most blocks by any Aggie team since NM State traveled to Riverside and collected 17 blocks against the Lancers in October of 2019.
Pumped Up in Pink
The Thursday evening tilt will also serve as the Aggies' annual Pink Out Cancer Match.
Mike Jordan's squad will be donning pink warmups ahead of the match to help raise awareness about the impact of breast cancer.
Keep Up with the Aggies
Fans looking to tune in to this weekend's matches will be able to do so via wacinternational.tv.
Live stats will also be available to fans this weekend via StatBroadcast at this link: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=418503.
Up Next
Following Saturday's match against Grand Canyon, the Aggies will return home to host WAC newcomer UT Arlington Oct. 27. This will mark NM State's lone home tilt across the next four outings.
