Box Score LOS ANGELES – The Aggies returned to the court for their second of three matches in the Trojan Challenge as they took on San Jose State on Friday evening.
 
After dropping a tight first set, NM State (6-4, 0-0 WAC) fell in three sets (25-23, 25-10, 25-10) to the Spartans (5-3, 0-0 MW).
 
The Aggies were paced by six kills from Katie Birtcil while Lia Mosher and Molly Johnson each chipped in five kills. Meanwhile, both Mosher and Jayde Shelton finished with a pair of block assists to lead the Aggies defensively.
 
SET ONE
Following Shelton's first kill in the match and a SJSU attack error, the Aggies took hold of an early 4-2 lead. NM State would maintain a two-point advantage through the first 12 combined points as they led 7-5 before San Jose State rattled off five-straight points to go ahead 10-7 and force an Aggie timeout.
 
Out of the timeout, NM State scored the next four points to regain the lead as kills from Mosher and Birtcil were followed by back-to-back aces from Rylee Fay. The period of runs continued when San Jose State managed to score the next four to jump out front, 14-11.
 
NM State would eventually battle to even the score at 21-21 when a Mosher kill put the Aggies in the lead (22-21). However, the Spartans would win four of the next five points to take the set by a score of 25-23.
 
SET TWO
With much of their energy expended attempting to win the first set, the Aggies fell behind 11-5 early on in the second set.
 
San Jose State would eventually expand its lead to 12 points to lead 19-7 before a Fay ace sandwiched by a pair of Spartan errors drew the Aggies back to within single digits.
 
Ultimately, SJSU would claim a 25-10 set win in the second frame.
 
SET THREE
Unfortunately for the Aggies, the start of the third set would look similar to the beginning of the second set as San Jose State opened with a 10-3 lead. The Aggies would score three of the next five points, including a combo block from the duo of Shelton and Mosher to remain within six points.
 
However, the Spartans stretched the lead to 13 as they scored three-straight to take a 21-8 advantage. This would eventually propel SJSU to taking a 25-10 set victory.
 
UP NEXT
The Aggies will conclude their weekend stay in Los Angeles with a match against UW-Milwaukee that is set to begin at 1 p.m. MT on Saturday afternoon. The match will be live streamed on the Pac-12 Network via this link.