LAS CRUCES, N.M. - NM State Volleyball earned their third straight win on Friday night; their fourth such streak this season. In a five-set match, it was the Aggies who were more efficient with their attacks, ultimately leading to a close win. Four hitters racked up at least 10 kills for the home team in part of an impressive .306 team showing; good for sixth-highest this season. The Aggies went the distance for the fifth time in 2023, grinding out their fourth win in such matches. Sam Houston fell to 1-14 in Conference USA and 7-21 overall. NM State climbed to 16-9 with an 8-5 CUSA mark. 

Set-by-set: NM State wins 3-2 (25-12, 25-22, 20-25, 23-25, 15-8)

One of the best sets of the Aggies' season came right from the start. As a unit, the home team posted a hitting percentage of .417 en route to a dominant 25-12 win, the second-largest margin this season. Four Aggies combined to gather nine kills on just 15 swings (.600), including Kacia Brown in a monster first set. The redshirt junior not only notched four kills on just six attempts (with no errors), but added five blocks in the set alone, including one solo. Her presence both offensively and defensively led the Aggies to their best stretch of the season; a 9-0 run that closed out the set 25-12. 

The second set, while closer, followed a similar formula. The Bearkats took a commanding 13-7 lead that momentarily took the crowd of 1,000+ out of the picture. The road team took advantage of multiple Aggie reception errors to maintain a 22-18 lead, forcing Mike Jordan to call for time. Whatever transpired in that 75-second huddle proved to be of monumental help, as the Aggies walked back out on the floor and didn't drop another point. They closed out the set with a convincing 7-0 run, bookended by two of Whitekettle's five second-set kills. 

The third set was simply too full of errors to ever gain any momentum. Between nine attack errors, two reception errors and two more ball handling errors, the Bearkats were granted 13 of their 25 points. NM State's combined hitting percentage dipped to just .118 in the set, while Sam Houston's .200 highlighted the lone set in which the Aggies were outhit. Following a 19-19 tie, Sam Houston won six of seven points to win 25-20 and survive to see a fourth set.

The Aggies never led in the fourth set. A 4-0 opening deficit turned out to be too much to overcome for NM State, despite their 15 kills, only two errors and .361 hitting percentage. A tie was forced at 22 all on a momentous block from Ashley Herman and Kacia Brown, but Sam Houston promptly regained the lead. Ryleigh Whitekettle landed her fifth kill of the set to draw the lead back to one, before one of Haley Heider's four kills pushed Sam Houston to a 25-23 win. 

The Aggies wiped off the previous two sets of frustration and quickly posted five kills, all from Mari Sharp and Ryleigh Whitekettle, to take a 5-1 lead that forced a Brenda Gray timeout. Later, NM State would go on a 5-0 run following a Maggie Lightheart substitution. The freshman has been exceptional from the service line in limited opportunities this season, and dropped in another beauty of an ace. The outside hitter swelled the lead to 10-5 after her serve went into the top of the net, and slowly fell onto the Bearkats' half of the floor. A timeout was immediately called, and the crowd appropriately responded to the Las Cruces native's impeccable serve. 

The match appeared to end shortly after, as the ball sailed out on a Bearkat attempt. However, after review, there was ruled to be an Aggie touch, sending Sam Houston to serve down 14-8. The very next point, the match would end for good on an attack error, with no need for a review. 

Big Picture Trends

• Mike Jordan's squad has tied their 2022 win total with 16. Jordan has won 16 or more matches in 23 consecutive seasons as head coach.

• The Aggies have only ventured into a winner-takes-all set five times this season. They are now 4-1, and a perfect 4-0 in fifth sets at home. 

• NM State is now an impressive 11-0 when taking each of the first two sets. 

• With the exception of their two matches against Liberty, the winner of the second set has won every NM State match this season (15-1 overall). 

• NM State is on a three-match winning streak for the fourth time this season. Their longest was four (all away from home) in September. 

Notable Stats/Leaders

• Ryleigh Whitekettle tied her career high with 20 kills (also vs. San Francisco).

• Kacia Brown tied her career high with 9 blocks (also at Liberty).

• Mari Sharp tied her career high with 17 digs (also at Arizona).

• The Aggies' 13.0 total blocks is tied for fourth-most this season. Their highest mark (16.0) came a month prior in a five-set win over UTEP.

• The Aggies have now hit over .300 as a team seven times this season, with tonight's percentage (.306) landing as the sixth-highest mark. 

• The match's duration was 2 hours and 27 minutes. This is the third-longest match of the season, and second-longest home match. 

From the Floor

Head Coach Mike Jordan, on the win: "I'm disappointed with the letdown in set three. I'm disappointed with the way we started sets, pretty much the whole night. I'm really unhappy with our competitiveness when we're not playing in front. You saw the best of us tonight, and you saw the worst of us. In November, you can't play like that. You'll get knocked out. I was pretty happy for a while, but I'm very disappointed in our veteran players and their lack of emotional leadership. They were like zombies out there, and if I have to put young people in the game like I did in the fifth set to give us a lift, so be it. Good for Maggie Lightheart and good for Bella Castro. 

Head Coach Mike Jordan, on his message to the team after losing the third and fourth set: "Compete! I'm yelling at them to compete. They've got 1,000 people sitting in here, and everybody's going 'Really?'. There's no emotion. I don't do well with teams that can't play emotionally and be competitive. I don't do well with those. It's like oil and vinegar to me. Competitive people don't like uncompetitive people, and vice versa."

Redshirt sophomore Ryleigh Whitekettle, on tying her career high with 20 kills: "It feels good. We definitely struggled in the third and fourth set with communication. It was nice that I felt like my team could count on me, and that we played for each other and it brought us back out a bit. We're going to take that into next week, working on the communication, staying consistent and not going so up-and-down."

Redshirt sophomore Ryleigh Whitekettle, on how the team stayed locked in after dropping two sets: "We really got together and decided that we're playing for each other. We're playing to seed ourselves second in the conference for the tournament, because it's going to give us a better outcome for everything. We really pulled it together to finish strong."

Freshman Maggie Lightheart, on her big moment in the fifth set: "I felt like I wanted to do my best for my team to try and win the best I could. The ace felt great. I was glad I got to experience it with this team."

Up Next

The Bearkats and Aggies will square off again tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 4 at 1:00 PM MT. Kaitlin Espiritu and Darian Markham will be honored during Senior Day festivities after the match. The match will not be streamed live, and there will not be a radio call. For those not in the arena, statistics will be shared live via Stat Broadcast. That link can be found at nmstatesports.com. 

For complete coverage of NM State Volleyball, follow us on Twitter (@NMStateVBall), Instagram (@NMStateVBall) and like us on Facebook (NM State Volleyball). You can also follow along with Aggie Volleyball via NMStateSports.com.

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