LAS CRUCES, N.M. – After falling on Thursday, NM State (8-5, 1-1 WAC) turned the page to earn a sweep over California Baptist (6-7, 1-1 WAC) at home on Saturday afternoon.
 
NM State was led by outside hitters Katie Birtcil and Mari Sharp who each tallied double-doubles in the win. Birtcil led all hitters with 14 kills while adding 10 digs. Sharp finished the match with 12 kills and 11 digs.
 
Defensively, Darian Markham's 16 digs paced both sides while Taylor Snow, Molly Johnson and Lia Mosher each recorded a pair of blocks to lead the charge at the net.
 
As a unit, Head Coach Mike Jordan's team dominated the Lancers on the stat sheet – leading them in kills (49-29), blocks (9-5), hitting percentage (.284-.157), assists (46-29) and aces (8-1).
 
SET ONE
NM State got off to a slow start but after falling behind 5-3, the Aggies scored seven of the next eight points to jump out front 10-6.
 
Later, the Aggies posted three-straight points, highlighted by a combo block from Snow and Johnson.
 
Consecutive kills from Birtcil, Sharp, Snow and Mosher later in the set put the Aggies ahead 22-16 to propel the Aggies to a 25-22 opening-set victory.
 
SET TWO
The Crimson and White opened the second set with a 4-2 advantage following a block by the wall of Mosher and Johnson.
 
NM State later rattled off an 8-2 run to grab on to a 14-7 lead. During the run, the Aggies picked up a pair of aces from Bianca Perez. Another Aggie ace later in the set from the hand of Rylee Fay would put the Aggies up 18-11 and force a California Baptist timeout.
 
Eventually, the Aggies would claim a 25-17 win to move one game away their fourth sweep of the season.
 
SET THREE
The final set of the WAC match would begin with a 6-2 Aggie run, led by a trio of Molly Johnson kills.
 
Following two CBU points, NM State tallied the next four points to take a commanding 10-4 lead. The Aggie advantage would then balloon to 10 points after yet another Bianca Perez ace – putting the Aggies up 18-8.
 
California Baptist would eventually battle its way back to within three points (20-17) before the Aggies put their foot back on the gas to earn a 25-18 win in the concluding set.
 
MATCH NOTABLES

• Katie Birtcil's 14-kill outing marked her eighth double-digit kill effort of the season. She also picked up her third double-double of the season.
• Mari Sharp finished the afternoon with the fifth double-double of her career.
• With a pair of blocks today, Taylor Snow has now recorded at least one block in 12 of the 13 matches on the season.
• Morgan Stewart matched her season-high dig total with five against the Lancers.
• As a team, the Aggies picked up 49 kills to eclipse their three-set total for the season. They also tallied the most assists in a three-set match thus far this season (46).

 
UP NEXT
The Aggies will continue its stretch of home matches to start WAC play as they welcome Southern Utah on Thursday, Sept. 29. Next week's match will start at 6 p.m.
 
Fans can purchase tickets to watch the Aggies battle the Thunderbirds at this link. The match will also be broadcast on wacinternational.tv and live stats will be available here.