LA JOLLA, Calif. – NM State Volleyball opened its 52^nd chapter on Friday, playing twice from LionTree Arena in La Jolla, Calif. With UC San Diego, the hosts, not on the Aggies' Friday schedule, the Crimson & White took on Eastern Washington and Northwestern. After a convincing four-set win over the Eagles, Mike Jordan's squad struggled with the Wildcats, falling in four sets. 
 
Jaelynn Kohli and Tess Fuqua stood out offensively, notching 25 and 18 total kills, respectively. Elsewhere, Mia Fox and Maggie Lightheart proved comfortable with expanded roles, each posting career days in their first season-opening starts. 
 
MATCH ONE – NM State vs. Eastern Washington
Set-by-set: NM State wins 3-1 (19-25, 25-18, 25-10, 25-12)
 
FIRST SET
The 2025 campaign started off strong for the Crimson & White, with Maggie Lightheart landing a kill on the first point. The Aggies quickly amassed an 8-3 lead with an attack error, forcing an Eagle timeout. After the stoppage, EWU ripped off a 21-9 run, with NM State suddenly staring down a set point for the opposition. Despite a pair of late kills, 11 combined errors were too many to overcome as the Eagles took the opener 25-19. 
 
SECOND SET
Tess Fuqua and Jaelynn Kohli began to leave their mark on the match in the second frame. Both of the newcomers racked up five kills on a .500 hitting percentage in the set as the Aggies doubled the Eagles' kill production (14-7). Fuqua's lone solo block of the contest and six Makayla Martinez digs were a sign of things to come for the EWU offense, as its hitting percentage dipped to .037. Lightheart later ended the stanza with her second ace of the afternoon to even up the affair with a 25-18 set win. 
 
THIRD SET
In a blink, the Aggies were all over the Eagles in set three. Following a Martinez ace to pull ahead 5-3, Fuqua later joined in with three aces of her own. The redshirt sophomore's dominant stretch from the line forced EWU into two timeouts as she led an 8-0 Aggie run to take a 15-5 lead. Mia Fox ultimately ended the frame on a kill, solidifying her fourth of the set. The sophomore tallied as many kills in the set as she did in any match during her freshman campaign, highlighting her career-high six-kill outing against EWU. 
 
FOURTH SET
The Aggies landed five more aces in the final frame, with three coming from Lightheart and a pair courtesy of Martinez. After already notching two kills in the frame, Lightheart stepped to the service line holding a 14-9 lead. The junior commanded a 7-0 run, including three aces just four points apart that forced EWU to burn both timeouts. By the end of the burst, NM State held a controlling 21-9 lead that would not be relinquished. Fuqua earned two of the final four points with kills, including the match winner, sealing her impressive 14-kill debut on a .480 hitting percentage. 
 
MATCH TWO – NM State vs. Northwestern
Set-by-set: NM State loses 1-3 (13-25, 25-22, 22-25, 12-25)
 
FIRST SET
Northwestern set the tone early, leading a 6-0 run that prompted an Aggie timeout and put them ahead 13-5. Nine NM State attack errors resulted in a -.103 hitting percentage, while four Wildcat aces pushed them to a convincing set win at 25-13. 
 
SECOND SET
The Wildcats held steady early in set two, allowing six ties but not surrendering a lead for the first 46 points of the frame. Freshman Jaelynn Kohli kept her side in it, hammering five of her 13 kills home in the set. With the El Paso native's second smash in a row, the affair was knotted at 20-20 before the Big Ten representatives called for time. A pair of Wildcat errors gave NM State the edge, before Claudia Rossi set up Zoe Ziegler and Mia Fox for the final two kills of the frame to win 25-22. In the set, Maggie Lightheart showed her defensive prowess, racking up seven digs and matching what was her career high entering the day in the span of minutes. 
 
THIRD SET
The break did not separate the two sides at first, with eight ties emerging in the third set. The only lead change came on an error that put the Wildcats ahead 13-12, but Mia Fox kept her side in the fight. The sophomore tallied five of her nine kills in the stanza, surpassing her previous career best of four in just a 36-point stretch. Unfortunately for the Crimson & White, eight attack errors and two missed serves proved costly as Northwestern took a 2-1 set lead by a score of 25-22.
 
FOURTH SET
Three more off-the-mark serves were coupled with five Wildcat aces in the final stanza, making for a quick conclusion to the night. After an early 3-3 tie, the opposition took 10 of the next 11 points. NM State never cut the deficit any closer than eight and Northwestern took the final set 25-12. 
 
NUMBERS OF NOTE

• After going 0-11 in 2024 matches with a team hitting percentage below .200, NM State started the campaign 1-0 with a victory over the Eagles despite hitting .198. 
• NM State had not tallied 15 aces in a single match since at least 2014 before doing so in the season opener. 
• Maggie Lightheart entered the day with 13 career aces. The junior tallied a career-high six versus EWU before adding one more in the nightcap.
• The Aggies needed just 49 kills to topple EWU, setting a mark lower than any in a four-set win from a season ago. 
• With 24 attack errors in a win, the Crimson & White pulled out a victory with their most attacking miscues since recording 27 in a five-set triumph over UTEP on Oct. 4, 2023. 
• Mia Fox entered the day with a career high of four kills. After notching six in the opener, the sophomore poured in a new career-best with nine against Northwestern.
• The 2024 Aggie squad averaged 7.24 blocks per night, shy of this year's unit's average of 9.0 denials per match through the opening day. 
• Tess Fuqua made her long-awaited collegiate debut on Friday after missing two seasons with injuries. The Las Cruces native poured in 18 kills, 18 digs, four aces and three blocks on the day, including an efficient 14 kills and three aces against EWU. 
• In total, five Aggies made their first appearances in the Crimson & White on Friday. Along with Fuqua were Katie Funk, Jaelynn Kohli, Kate Sinclair and Zoe Ziegler. 
• Kohli, a freshman, led her team in kills on Friday, tallying 12 in the opener and 13 against Northwestern on a combined .305 hitting percentage.
• Bianca Perez returned to the floor for the first time since 2023 after missing a season due to injury. The fourth-year Aggie came in during the fourth set of NM State's win over EWU. 
• Nellie Reese paced the squad in assists in each match, earning a pair of starts. The senior tallied 42 total assists on the day, adding five digs and two aces. 
• Junior Maggie Lightheart put forth her best day in the uniform, notching a total of 17 kills and seven aces. She also surpassed her previous career high in digs (seven) twice, going for a total of 22 that included a team-high 12 versus Northwestern. 

• Zoe Ziegler, the tallest Aggie on record, made her NM State debut following two seasons with Cypress CC just 89 miles from LionTree Arena. The outside hitter amassed 13 kills and six blocks across two outings. 

 
FROM THE FLOOR
Head Coach Mike Jordan, on the day: "I was really happy for this group to get a win in their first match. It was ugly too often, but that's to be expected with all our new players and only three weeks of practice to prepare. Northwestern, though, is a lot more experienced than we are right now. We had to play back-to-back matches against a fresh team and that's a tall order. We wore out a little as the match went on. We had good moments and we hopefully learned a lot."
 
Head Coach Mike Jordan, on Tess Fuqua's return to the floor: "Tess was great in her first match. I can't tell you how happy I am, after all she's worked through these past two years. It was so great to see her playing at a high level right out the gate."
 
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