First Serve
• Entering Saturday, the Aggies will be riding a two-game winning streak after earning victories against California Baptist and Southern Utah in the previous two outings.
• This will also mark the end of the Aggies' four-match home stand as following the match against the Trailblazers, NM State will be on the road for a pair of matches against Sam Houston and UT Rio Grande Valley.
Weekend Notes
• In the win, the Aggies were led by career days from
Rylee Fay and
Lia Mosher in the win. Fay tallied 35 assists to reach a new career-high while she also matched her career-best mark of seven service aces. Meanwhile, Mosher, a sixth-year senior, equaled her career high in kills with 16.
• Only
Katie Birtcil recorded more kills than Mosher in the match as she tallied 21 on 43 swings to turn in a hitting percentage of .326.
• A trio of Aggies recorded double-digit digs to lead the way on the defense's back end.
Darian Markham compiled 15 digs, Birtcil finished with 14 and
Mari Sharp racked up 13.
• As a team, NM State finished with their fourth-best combined hitting percentage of the season as they swung .279 against the Thunderbirds. Meanwhile, the Aggies held SUU to just .180 on the night, including restricting the visitor's hitters to a combined .029 hitting percentage in the opening set.
• Currently, both
Lia Mosher and
Rylee Fay are among some of the best in the WAC as Mosher leads the conference in hitting percentage (.394) and Fay paces the league in service aces per set (0.67). Fay also ranks eighth in the country in aces per set.
• Meanwhile,
Katie Birtcil's mark of 3.54 kills per set is good for second in the WAC and
Darian Markham's 4.42 digs per set average also ranks behind just two other WAC athletes.
• As a team, the Aggies are currently holding opponents to a .177 combined hitting percentage - a mark that is good for third in the conference.
• With yet another seven-ace outing on Thursday against the Thunderbirds, Fay is the only server in the country to achieve seven or more aces in multiple four-set contests.
Keep Up with the Aggies
Fans looking to tune in to this weekend's matches will be able to do so for free via WAC International at WACInternational.tv.
Live stats will also be available to fans this weekend via StatBroadcast at this link: https://www.statbroadcast.com/events/statbroadcast.php?gid=nmst.
Scouting Utah Tech
• The Trailblazers travel to Las Cruces with a .500 record, managing six wins and six losses on the season. Utah Tech has yet to record a win in conference play, entering Thursday at 0-3 on the season against WAC opponents. UT is also one of three WAC schools currently riding a losing streak of three or more matches.
• Offensively, Hannah Howard paces the Trailblazers in kills per set - averaging 3.21. Meanwhile, Taela Laufisor ranks fourth in the conference in assists per set with 8.46.
• In the Aggies' program history, they have met the Trailblazers four times and are currently undefeated against the Utah-based program. The two sides first met in 2020 when UT made its debut in the WAC.
Up Next
Following Saturday's contest against the Trailblazers, the Aggies will continue WAC play with a road contest against Sam Houston on Saturday, Oct. 8. The match against the Bearkats is set to get underway at Noon MT.
