TUCSON, Ariz. - The Wildcat Classic has come to a close, with NM State falling in four sets to Long Beach State. LBSU, who notably toppled No. 1 Texas to open the season, took the opening two sets, and put NM State in too deep of a hole to climb out of. The Beach moved to 6-4 on the year. The Aggies will enter Conference USA action at 7-4, taking on Middle Tennessee at home next weekend.
Set-by-set: NM State loses 1-3 (19-25, 16-25, 27-25, 33-35)
The first two sets went all in favor of the Beach. The first set saw only one lead for the Aggies, coming early at 4-3. For the rest of the first set, NM State could never get past a tie with LBSU, who won the set 25-16. That trend continued through the entire second frame, where NM State never led.
As rough as the first set was, the second was even less productive for NM State. After putting up a hitting percentage of just .189 in the opening set, that number fell to .000. The team had just eight kills and as many errors in the game. Neither side played their best brand of volleyball, as LBSU was only able to hit .065 in the set. Despite the offensive struggles, six block assists were enough to take the set 25-19.
The match completely flipped on its head after the first two sets. The Aggies, who had been outscored 50-35 at that point, took command early in the third. Kacia Brown led a streak of six consecutive points won, thanks in large part to her three aces in that span. Later in the set, Starr Williams had kills on three consecutive points to take a big 18-13 lead. Williams, a Long Beach State transfer, finished the match with 15 kills on 36 swings, highlighted by six in the third set. The set provided plenty of drama with two lead changes and five ties. One of those ties came at 25-25, before veterans Mari Sharp and Ryleigh Whitekettle each added a kill to close out the set 27-25.
The third set was one of the most competitive of the season, but was quickly outdone by the fourth. The Beach would take the set 35-33 in what is easily the longest set to this point of the season. The frame featured 11 lead changes and a staggering 20 ties. Two consecutive LBSU errors gave the Aggies a 15-10 lead, which was quickly erased by a 5-0 run. That was the largest lead of the set, and after being tied at 15, neither team built a lead of more than two. After a 24-22 LBSU lead and a pair of match points, the Aggies took three in a row, capped off by a Maggie Lightheart ace that forced the Beach to call a timeout.
After this point, the set and match were effectively hanging in the balance for 19 consecutive points. The match looked poised for a fifth set when a Beach service error put the Aggies up 33-32. However, Zayna Meyer earned an assist on three consecutive points, giving the Beach a decisive 35-33 victory in the fourth set.
Head Coach Mike Jordan, on the match: "We started slow and made too many attack and set errors early. Then, we got it going and it was a great match versus a really good team that has a win against the defending national champions. We've got a lot to improve on. Being great is really difficult. It takes a ton of effort, and I'm hopeful we'll give that."
Stats/Trends of Note
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The Aggies scored 35 points in the first two sets, and 60 in the final two.
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Aspen Aldous passed the double-digit assist threshold for the first time in her Division I career, collecting 11 in the loss.
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The second set trend has continued. The winner of the second frame has won all 11 matches this season, with the Aggies winning seven and losing four.
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Darian Markham (18), Kacia Brown (15) and Bianca Perez (14) became the second trio of Aggies to have at least 14 digs in a single match this season. The first came against San Francisco in a five-set match. Yesterday's match against Arizona was the only other occurrence of three players in double digits.
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Errors cost the Aggies greatly in the loss. They had 27 attack errors and seven ball handling errors, their most in both categories this season.
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The Aggies hit .175 in the match, with the only lower mark this season coming against Arizona State when they hit .172 (Sept. 3)
Up Next
The Aggies will play their first-ever match as members of Conference USA next weekend. NM State will host Middle Tennessee for a pair of matches in the Pan American Center. They will take place on Friday, Sept. 22 at 6:00 PM, and Saturday, Sept. 23 at 1:00 PM.
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