LAS CRUCES, N.M. – In its long-awaited return to the Pan American Center, NM State Volleyball took on Sam Houston for the Aggies' Conference USA home opener on Friday. The Crimson & White controlled much of the contest, taking down the Bearkats in four sets to remain perfect in CUSA play. The Aggies hit .299 as a group, setting a new season best while racking up 10 aces to extend their home winning streak to 14 matches.
 
Set-by-set: NM State wins 3-0 (25-13, 25-22, 23-25, 25-12) 
 
FIRST SET
NM State wasted no time asserting dominance in the first set, jumping out to a 5-1 lead with help from a pair of kills by Kate Sinclair. This advantage would later extend to seven points (10-3) as Nellie Reese set up a high-flying Jaelynn Kohli for her second kill of the opening frame. Sam Houston showed some life as it trimmed the Aggie lead to four points following brief 6-3 scoring run.
 
However, Mike Jordan's squad squashed any signs of a comeback as it responded with a 3-0 run to force a Bearkat timeout. This scoring burst would also serve as the start to an extended 10-1 that pushed the score to 24-11 in favor of the Crimson and White. The commanding run would be fueled by a pair of aces from Las Cruces native Bella Castro along with two kills each from Maggie Lightheart and Mia Fox. Sam Houston would stave off the Aggies for two points, but a Mia Fox kill would ultimately give the Aggies the win in the opening set. In the set, the Aggies limited Sam Houston to a .000 hitting percentage on 24 swings.
 
SECOND SET
Following a one-sided first set, the Bearkats took advantage of a pair of Aggie attacking errors to open the set on a 5-2 run. Sam Houston continued to apply pressure as it eventually carried a 13-9 lead near the midway point of the set. However, NM State was unphased by the resistance as an ace from Makayla Martinez capped off a 4-1 Aggie stretch that brought the home side within one point (14-13) and forced a Sam Houston timeout.
 
Later, the Aggies would use kills from Sinclair and Lightheart to pull even with the Bearkats at 19 points apiece before a solo block from Zoe Ziegler brought the crowd to its feet and gave the Aggies their first lead of the set. NM State's presence at the net would shine through once again as Fox stuffed a Bearkat attack to give the Aggies a 25-22 win in the second set.
 
THIRD SET
Similar to the second set, Sam Houston managed to jump out to an early lead as it used a pair of aces on the first two serves to leave the Aggies looking at a 7-3 deficit in the early stages of the third frame. Following another ace later in the set, NM State would find its footing as it rattled off four unanswered points, highlighted by an ace of its own from Castro, to tie the set at 11. Although, Sam Houston continued to do its best to extend the match as it would build up a 19-16 advantage following an Aggie service error. A back-and-forth battle down the stretch would ultimately swing the Bearkats' way as they took the set 25-23 to force a fourth set.


FOURTH SET
After nearly closing out the match in three sets, a reenergized Aggie team showed no intentions of allowing the match to reach a fifth frame as it opened the fourth set on a 4-0 run that was capped off by an ace from Lightheart. The sophomore entered the match ranked fifth in the nation in total aces, upping her season total to 36. This early momentum would carry throughout the stanza as NM State later produced a dominant 12-1 run to take a commanding 20-8 lead. Despite the Bearkats' efforts to battle back, the Aggies would roll to a match-sealing 25-12 victory in the fourth and final set.
 
NUMBERS OF NOTE

• NM State's win advances the Aggies to 3-0 in CUSA play and is now one win away from equaling their best start in conference play since joining the league.
• The Aggies moved to 8-3 all-time against the Bearkats, including five victories since joining CUSA.
• The win gives the Aggies a perfect 4-0 record inside the Pan American Center and extends their home winning streak to 14 matches, including nine against CUSA opponents.
• The perfect start to 2025 also represents the program's best home record through four matches since 2018 (started 8-0).
• Before Friday, NM State's highest hitting percentage in a match was .248 against Kansas City. The Aggies landed 58 kills on 137 attempts in the win, notching their highest clip of the season (.299).
• With four service aces, sophomore Bella Castro bested her career high, while equaling her total from the previous nine matches combined.
• Kate Sinclair notched a new career high in kills with 11, surpassing her previous high of eight.
• With 13 kills, Jaelynn Kohli has now logged 13 or more kills in four of the Aggies' previous five matches.
• With her 11 kills, sophomore middle blocker Mia Fox tied her career high (fourth time).
• The middle blocker has now logged double-digit kills in four straight matches and seven total on the season.
• Rilen Garcia finished the match with team-high 25 assists to mark her third consecutive outing with 20-plus assists. This also marked the third consecutive match in which Garcia has paced the Aggies in assists.
• For the seventh straight match, sophomore Makayla Martinez led the Aggies in digs, picking up 23.
• Mia Fox led the team with three blocks on the day, pacing her squad for the eighth time this season.

• With six blocks, the Crimson & White failed to tally eight rejections for just the fourth time all season.

 
FROM THE FLOOR
Head Coach Mike Jordan, on the win: "We were more efficient offensively than we had been. We had a few bad moments passing it, but we made some adjustments and figured it out. It was a good match where I think a lot of people got involved and did some good things. We were cleaner for longer stretches. I also thought we did a pretty good job serving it. That's kind of a match-by-match skill that varies based on your opponent and what you're trying to do. We did the right things for the most part today.
 
Junior outside hitter Maggie Lightheart, on the 4-0 start at home: "We always strive for good quality matches like this. Sometimes, they don't always end up like this, but this is always the goal. I think, while you can't always rely on the home crowd, it's really nice to know your family is here and the community is behind you. It's just always good to be in the Pan Am."
 
Junior defensive specialist Bella Castro, on her four-ace day: "I just want to give my team the best opportunity each point. I have that in my mind every time I go out there. I just think about how to help the team to the best of my ability and today that was by serving it well, so I was happy to help get us a win."
 
Sophomore middle blocker Mia Fox, on the team starting 3-0: "I think offensively we have so much power and I feel like we're kind of coming into our own in that aspect. It's amazing to see people taking swings they wouldn't normally take in the first few weeks of the season. Watching everybody blossom has been great because I have so much more confidence in all my teammates and we've just grown so much since the beginning of the year."
 
UP NEXT
The two sides will square off once again on Saturday for the weekend finale. NM State is set to host Sam Houston at 12:00 PM MT as the Crimson & White look to stretch their home winning streak to 15 matches and cap off the weekend at 4-0 in league bouts. All the action will be streamed live on ESPN+ and available to follow via nmstatesports.com/stats.
 
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