LAS CRUCES, N.M. – After just 76 days, the regular season will come to a close this weekend for NM State Volleyball. The Aggies host Kennesaw State for a two-match series on Thursday and Friday, playing for the final time at the Pan American Center in 2025. At the conclusion of Friday's match, seven graduating seniors will be recognized before the team begins its run at the Conference USA Championship next week in Miami. The Owls make their first trip to Las Cruces in program history as both sides look to improve their standings ahead of the postseason.
 
WHAT TO KNOW
Who: Kennesaw State (16-8, 10-4 CUSA) at NM State (14-13, 7-7 CUSA)
Where: Pan American Center – Las Cruces, N.M.
When: Thursday, Nov. 13 at 6:00 PM / Friday, Nov. 14 at 6:00 PM
Live Stream: ESPN+ (Thursday only)
Live Statistics: nmstatesports.com/stats
All-Time Record vs. Kennesaw State: 1-1
Last Meeting: NM State 3 at Kennesaw State 0 – Sept. 28, 2024
 
ABOUT THE SENIORS
Seven Aggies are entering their final series at the Pan American Center, including second-year Aggies Claudia Rossi and Nellie Reese alongside third-year Peyton Castillo. A quartet of soon-to-be graduates has only ever called NM State home, playing under the guidance of Mike Jordan since arriving as a group in 2022. Ashley Herman, Kaylee Peterson, Bianca Perez and captain Rilen Garcia prepare to hang up the Crimson & White this fall, hoping to conduct a perfect fourth melody in their swan song together.  
 
Kennesaw State held its Senior Day ceremony last Saturday, recognizing Manu Johnsen, Caroline Chastang, Leah Freeman and Maggie Butkovich after the series finale against UTEP. NM State's festivities will commence shortly after the conclusion of Friday's match. 
 
LAST TIME OUT
The Aggies visited Jax State a week ago in its final road series of 2025. The visitors rolled to a two-set lead in the opener, hitting .500 and holding the Gamecocks to 25 total points. The hosts flipped the switch, though, taking six of the next seven sets in the matchup, including a reverse sweep on Thursday. While NM State hit .285 to Jax State's .180 mark, a 24-9 edge in service aces granted Jax State its first-ever two-match sweep of Mike Jordan's bunch, sending both teams into the regular-season finale with a 7-7 record in league play. 
 
WHAT'S AT STAKE
The Aggies enter the weekend with the same record as sixth-place Jax State (7-7), but the head-to-head tiebreaker belongs to the Gamecocks. NM State has already secured a spot in the eight-team field at next week's CUSA Championship (Nov. 21-23), but could still fall to eighth with two losses and two Missouri State wins at Middle Tennessee.
 
With some help, the Crimson & White could climb as high as fifth in the league standings, needing a pair of wins to potentially jump Jax State (7-7) and Liberty (8-6). The top four spots have likely all been settled, with WKU (13-1), UTEP (13-1), FIU (12-2) and Kennesaw State (10-4) clear of the remaining field.
 
A single win would guarantee Mike Jordan his 25^th consecutive season with at least a .500 record. The legendary 28^th-year head coach sits with a winning percentage of .693, needing just two more victories to become the first Aggie to surpass 600 in a career.
 
NOTHING LIGHTHEARTED ABOUT HER
Since 2023, Maggie Lightheart has blossomed from a walk-on to a star six-rotation player with multiple league awards. Over the past three series, the junior has notched 89 kills and 45 digs, averaging 3.71 kills per set on a .282 hitting percentage. After posting a 2025 single-match team-high 23 kills against Middle Tennessee, she was named CUSA Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 27.
 
So far in 2025, the Las Cruces native has started 26 of 27 matches, only missing the opener at Missouri State. The junior has the most Aggie kills (311) this season and has led the group in 12 matches thus far. Her 248 digs also place her second on the team leaderboard, only behind libero Makayla Martinez. In total, her 4.24 points per set rank fourth-highest across all of league play.
 
Additionally, Lightheart paces CUSA with 55 aces on the campaign, placing her fifth across all of NCAA Division I. The third-year Aggie has landed three or more aces in 11 contests this year, staking her claim as one of the nation's elite at the service line. On Friday, she tied Jackie Choi in 2006 for second-most aces in a single season by an Aggie, leaving her 16 short of the all-time record (71 - Kim Bevington, 1982).
 
AGENT ZERO
Coming out of Las Cruces, Tess Fuqua committed to Arizona in the fall of 2023. The outside hitter suffered a pair of ACL injuries that led her back home for a 2024 season on the Aggie bench. This fall, Fuqua finally got her long-awaited collegiate debut, and she has not disappointed. 
 
The two-time New Mexico Gatorade Player of the Year has averaged 2.96 kills per set this season, in addition to 184 total digs as a regular starter for NM State. Last weekend, she racked up 27 kills on a remarkable .453 hitting percentage, adding 11 digs and a block at Jax State. She sits among the team's top three in kills (252), kills per set (2.96) digs (184), digs per set (2.16), aces (27) and aces per set (0.32).
 
WOAH, NELLIE
In the offseason, only one starter returned from the 2024 squad. Nellie Reese, who appeared in every set last year, was the starting setter in all but one match a season ago as she led her team with 678 total assists (5.60 per set). 
 
The Montana State transfer is now amid her senior season in her second campaign as an Aggie. This fall, Reese has started 18 of 27 matches, leading the way with 490 assists thus far on an average of 5.05 per set. The Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, native also holds 22 aces and 144 digs this fall, ranking fourth on the team in both categories.
 
TINY BUT MIGHTY
Makayla Martinez has emerged as a consistent starting libero in her sophomore season with Mike Jordan's group. The second-year Aggie already has more digs in 2025 than her entire freshman campaign, leading the team with 309. Her 3.43 average per set is good for the eighth-best mark in CUSA.
 
The Albuquerque native has led the team in digs 16 times this year, including 14 of the past 18 matches. She has surpassed 20 digs twice in 2025, with her most coming against Little Rock (27). The sophomore has also racked up 98 assists and 26 service aces this year, ranking fourth and third on the team, respectively. 
 
FEELIN' FOXY
Among the Aggies' 13 returners, few took a leap quite as large as Mia Fox. After notching just 17 kills and six blocks as a freshman, the middle blocker started the first 23 matches of the year, accepting a much heavier load in 2025 as the lone program veteran at her position.
 
This year, Fox has amassed 177 kills and 77 blocks while being the only Aggie to appear in all 104 sets of action. The sophomore has led the squad in denials on 10 occasions, including five times in CUSA contests. In 14 league bouts, she has totaled 88 kills and 37 blocks from the front row. 
 
SCOUTING THE OWLS
Kennesaw State is under the direction of Keith Schunzel, who boasts a 224-135 record in his 13 years with the program. The Owls stand alone in fourth place with a 10-4 CUSA mark, matching their final standing from a year ago when they made a run to the CUSA Championship Semifinals.
 
The squad is led on the floor by Manu Johnsen, who is one of two CUSA members averaging more than 4.00 kills per set (4.09). The senior is hitting .283 this fall, adding 43 aces and 240 digs. Setters Kaeley Walz and Kourtney Brown coordinate a majority of the 6-2 offense, combining for 10.76 assists per set. Lastly, Olivia Burrage's 105 blocks rank third in the conference, spearheading a defense that has held opponents to a .196 hitting percentage.   
 
In 2024, NM State visited Kennesaw State for the Owls' first-ever series in the league. The hosts prevailed in a thrilling five-set affair in the opener, but the Aggies answered back with a convincing sweep in the finale. The two squads represented half of the final four teams standing in the CUSA Championship a year ago, with the Owls falling to WKU mere minutes before the classic Battle of I-10 stunner that night in El Paso, Texas. 
 
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