JACKSONVILLE, Ala. - NM State's losing streak extended to three on Friday at the hands of Jacksonville State. The Gamecocks never went away, and answered every burst with a run of their own. Jax State ended their six-match losing streak, and snapped a streak of 19 consecutive sets lost. They improved to 5-14 overall and 3-6 in conference action. NM State fell to 13-9 and 6-5 in CUSA. 

Set-by-set: NM State loses 2-3 (25-23, 23-25-20, 20-25, 15-17)

The Aggies hit just .206 in the opening set, but it was Maggie Lightheart who came out hot. In place of Mari Sharp, who missed the match, Mike Jordan opted for the local true freshman from Mayfield HS. Lightheart posted four kills in the opening frame, and had no errors on seven attempts. The outside hitter finished the set with more kills than the entirety of her career up to that point, setting the tone that she would be a focal point of the offense. NM State built up a 23-22 lead before calling a timeout. Kacia Brown, the suddenly most-experienced Aggie hitter, dropped in one of her four first-set kills, advancing to set point. Both teams exchanged service errors, giving the Aggies the 1-0 lead. 

The second set would be just as close, this time going in the host's favor. Jax State got out to a quick 5-1 lead and forced a timeout from Jordan. Darian Markham did manage to put together a 5-0 run that included back-to-back service aces to regain the lead. The senior also tallied 10 of her 28 digs in the frame. NM State's offense struggled elsewhere, racking up eight attack errors in the set alone. Despite the offensive woes, the story the rest of the way was a battle of runs. A Jax State 5-1 spurt to take the lead was followed by a 3-0 Aggie run to tie it up. Jax State won one point on an attack error to take an 18-17 lead, before momentum truly started swinging back and forth. From that point to the end of the set, there was a 3-0 Aggies run, a 3-0 Gamecocks response, a 3-0 Aggies run, and a 4-0 closing push by the home team to finish it 25-23. After two, each team had won and lost by a score of 25-23, and were tied at one set apiece. 

The third set was NM State's best of the entire match, highlighted by a hitting percentage of .409 and just two attack errors. In a mirrored beginning from a set prior, a 6-1 lead forced a Gamecock timeout. That came off of one of Ashley Herman's two solo blocks in the third, as part of a three-solo block set for the squad. The lead remained between three and eight for the next 35 points, until Jax State found themselves only down 22-20. The Aggies responded with three straight points to take a 2-1 set lead; two kills followed by Herman's other solo block.

In a strange trend, the fourth frame was the inverse of the third, akin to the opening pair of sets. Jax State answered NM State's best set with the exact same score; 25-20. Maggie Lightheart landed three more kills on just five swings, edging closer to her final tally of 14. The freshman entered the match having never attempted more than three attacks in one night. Safe to say, her 14 kills, 33 attempts and .303 hitting percentage are all easily new personal bests. Lightheart poured in her lone service ace in the midst of a 5-0 run, but it wasn't enough to rattle Jax State. The Aggies never led in the set, and sent things to the fifth with one of their five attack errors. 

The Aggies entered with a 3-0 record in fifth sets, and seemed poised to continue their perfection. Ashley Herman had three quick kills to go up 4-2. The sophomore outside hitter tallied four in the set, as part of her record-breaking 12-kill performance. Herman led the offense to a 8-6 advantage before swapping sides. The lead would extend to 9-6 on a Jax State attack error, before things went south for the Aggies. The home team would win 11 of the final 17 points, and staved off two match points from NM State. A Bianca Perez service ace put her back on the service line up 14-13 with a chance to end it. Later, a Starr Williams kill gave the Aggies their final lead of the match at 15-14. Jax State won the final three points with an ace in between two Lightheart attack errors. 

While the freshman's lapses came when the lights were brightest, she was far from alone. As a team, NM State produced 27 attack errors and 18 service errors (the most this season). Those 45 total errors are more than any other match in 2023, passing the previous total of 41. While NM State amassed 13 more kills than Jax State, consistent errors proved to be too costly to earn a win. 

Head Coach Mike Jordan, on the loss: "Clearly we missed Mari, but Maggie did as well as we could expect from a freshman being tossed into her first six rotation playing time. We just make error after error, including some veterans, and we give points away like candy on Halloween. Maybe tomorrow we'll be different. Hope isn't much of a strategy, though."

Up Next

The two sides will square off again on Saturday from Pete Mathews Coliseum. The match will begin at 12:00 PM MT (1:00 PM local time). The match will be streamed live on ESPN+, and available to follow via StatBroadcast. Those links can be found at nmstatesports.com.

For complete coverage of NM State Volleyball, follow us on Twitter (@NMStateVBall), Instagram (@NMStateVBall) and like us on Facebook (NM State Volleyball). You can also follow along with Aggie Volleyball via NMStateSports.com.

##NM State##