MIAMI – On Friday, NM State Volleyball took on Western Kentucky in the CUSA Championship Quarterfinals. The Aggies opened their stay at the tournament with a convincing set one win before the Hilltoppers responded in a four-frame victory. With the loss, Head Coach Mike Jordan's squad wrapped up the 2025 campaign, missing out on an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. The 52^nd team in program history finished the year with a 14-16 overall record and seven wins in CUSA play.
 
Set-by-set: NM State loses 1-3 (25-15, 19-25, 12-25, 21-25)
 
FIRST SET
With a flurry from the service line, NM State roared out to a hot start. A pair of Makayla Martinez aces preluded two Maggie Lightheart kills that pushed the Crimson & White in front 9-4. Three different Aggies landed kills before Lightheart repeated with another pair, setting up a Tess Fuqua ace and an edge of 17-8 in which half of WKU's points came via missed NM State serves. A kill and a block from Zoe Zielger pushed the margin to 22-11 before Fuqua's second kill of the evening. Lightheart then capped off her exceptional first set with two more kills, totaling eight on a hitting percentage of .800. Mike Jordan's bunch took the opening frame by a tally of 25-15. 
 
SECOND SET
In a blink, WKU amassed a four-point lead they proved to never let go. The second set was the lone stanza all evening without a tie or lead change, with Tess Fuqua and Kate Sinclair's tandem block marking the closest point in the affair (12-11). Despite Jaelynn Kohli's best efforts, the Hilltoppers built a 20-15 lead in short order. Two more kills and an ace from Lightheart would be the only positives for the Aggies down the stretch, dropping the frame 25-19. After notching 17 kills and just one error in the opener, NM State posted just 12 in set two, racking up nine errors. 
 
THIRD SET
Tess Fuqua caught fire early in the third game, guiding her side to a 7-7 stalemate with three early kills. After the tie, WKU ripped off an extended 18-5 run, utilizing six Aggie miscues during the stretch to run away with a 25-12 set win. The higher seed added 15 kills in the set with only two errors, while NM State had just nine kills and five bad attacks.
 
FOURTH SET
Zoe Ziegler's second ace of the year was bookended by two Tess Fuqua kills, tying the affair at 7-7. Four ties and two lead changes ensued by the media stoppage, with WKU holding a 15-13 edge. Jaelynn Kohli kept her side alive with two kills down the stretch with Martinez commanding a 4-0 run at the service line, but a match-sealing kill landed at 25-21, sending the Hilltoppers on to the CUSA Semifinals.
 
NUMBERS OF NOTE

• NM State now holds an all-time record of 6-10 versus WKU, with Friday's loss being the third straight at the hands of the Hilltoppers in the postseason.
• Claudia Rossi and Nellie Reese both finished with 16 assists in the match, matching each other for the team lead.
• The Aggies tallied eight aces during the match, picking up a rare loss when recording five or more on the season (13-4).
• NM State was led by a 16-kill performance by Maggie Lightheart, who paced the team for the 15^th time this season.
• Jaelynn Kohli's 12 kills came on a .391 hitting percentage, clinching her 15^th outing of the season with a double-digit total.
• Claudia Rossi earned the fifth start of her career on Friday, including her fourth since the start of league play.  
• Makayla Martinez led the way with 16 digs in the loss, marking the 19^th occasion of the sophomore with a team-high total this fall.  

• Mike Jordan ended the year just short of a career milestone, heading into the offseason with a record of 598-268.

 
Head Coach Mike Jordan, on the loss: "Congrats to Travis Hudson and WKU. They're always a tough opponent. We had great moments in the match. The front row players did a good job hitting and blocking. Unfortunately, we failed to make some easy digs at times and our pass and set game was inconsistent. When it was good, we were scoring."
 
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