LAS CRUCES, N.M. – Following a six-match road trip to start the season, NM State Volleyball returned home on Friday, hosting New Haven from the friendly confines of the Pan American Center. The Aggies took all three sets over the Chargers, improving to 5-2 on the young campaign, while the visitors dropped to 1-5. Tess Fuqua led the way with 11 kills while Maggie Lightheart etched her name into the record books with seven aces in the sweep.
 
Set-by-set: NM State wins 3-0 (25-22, 25-15, 25-23)
 
FIRST SET
In what would become the theme of the opening set for the Aggies, Nellie Reese collected the first point of the contest with an ace, landing her eighth of the young season. However, the Aggies would find themselves in a 4-1 deficit before a dominant stretch. The home side rattled off a 10-0 run, spearheaded by Las Cruces native Maggie Lightheart, who notched a whopping five service aces in the stretch. Eventually, four quick Aggie errors allowed the visitors back in the contest as Mike Jordan called for time with a 21-20 advantage. Tess Fuqua ripped a pair of kills before Bianca Perez notched a solo block and a kill on consecutive points to take the Pan American's first regular-season set in 307 days. 
 
SECOND SET
The Aggies would start set two with a quick 3-0 edge behind kills from Kate Sinclair and Zoe Ziegler, later taking an 8-4 lead following a successful New Haven challenge. After tallying five aces in the opening frame, Maggie Lightheart notched a new career high with her seventh ace to give the Aggies their largest lead of the set (20-13). Redshirt sophomore Claudia Rossi joined in, tallying her first ace of the night – one of 14 the Aggies would post on Friday. NM State rallied to take the shortest frame of the night, grabbing home a decisive 25-15 set victory. 
 
THIRD SET
Traveling over 2,000 miles for the two-day matchup in Las Cruces, the Chargers would not go down without a fight. The two squads were in lockstep for the first 24 points of set three, with neither taking a lead greater than two points until the Chargers found momentum, taking a 15-12 edge into the media timeout. Falling behind 18-13 and prompting a Michael Jordan timeout, the Aggies would then turn in an 8-3 spurt behind a trio of Las Crucans – three kills between Tess Fuqua and Maggie Lightheart, along with an ace on the service line from junior Bella Castro. The hitting duo of Lightheart and Fuqua would seal the match for the Aggies, notching back-to-back points from the floor and the service line, respectively. The Arizona transfer's match-sealing ace capped off an Aggie victory by a 25-23 score, securing the sweep. 
 
NUMBERS OF NOTE

• Holding the Chargers to a .140 hitting percentage, the contest was the fifth of the season in which the Aggies held their opponent below .200. 
• The win was NM State's first of the season when trailing its opponent in hitting percentage (.130).
• Fourteen Aggie aces were their most in a single match since a season-opening victory over Eastern Washington (15). Last season, the team's highest mark was 11.
• Las Cruces native Bella Castro earned the first start of her career against the Chargers, recording six digs as the starting libero in the win. 
• The sweep of New Haven was NM State's second of the season and second in a row, bringing the Aggies' set winning streak to six in a row.
• Following her collegiate debut last Friday, Jacqueline Corcoran tallied her first collegiate kill in the third set of Friday's win.
• Last year's squad held opponents to a sub-.200 hitting percentage in 16 of 33 matches. The 2025 group has already done so in five of seven matches so far, including a .140 mark on Friday.
• In 2024, NM State went 0-11 when recording a hitting percentage below .200. This year's squad is already 2-2 in such matches.
• Maggie Lightheart led the team in digs, picking up 13 in three sets. She was joined by Tess Fuqua (11) as the only two players on either team with a double-digit total.
• Fuqua's three aces matched her previous career high, bumping her season total to 10.
• NM State now holds a 1-0 all-time record against New Haven with the win over Division I's newest member.

• Maggie Lightheart became the third Aggie this millenium with seven or more aces in a match. She is the first to do so since Victoria Barrett versus Tarleton on March 15, 2021.

 
FROM THE FLOOR
Head Coach Mike Jordan, on the win: "The crowd was great tonight. It's unfortunate we couldn't give them a better performance offensively. Players can get in their own head and get confidence issues if they don't take care of business. I'm worried that we're not going to be aggressive enough mentally and that we could play a little softer than we should. We need to hit the ball the right way, but with our injuries right now we have almost no depth, so we're in a rough spot."
 
Redshirt sophomore outside hitter Tess Fuqua, on winning in front of the home crowd: "This morning, when I woke up, I was really excited for my first home opener. It was the best feeling in the world finally playing again in front of everybody, especially my family. Coming into this match, I had a mindset of wanting to win and doing everything it takes to get that done. It wasn't always pretty, but we pulled through and I'm happy for this group to get it done."
 
Junior outside hitter Maggie Lightheart, on her seven-ace night: "Honestly, I think serving is one of my skills I'm prouder of. When you're on a run and serving well, it's hard to stop. It's nice to get points on the first touch and just keep it rolling. Getting a win tonight was a great feeling. Playing here and starting in front of my hometown is something I've wished for since I was a little girl and I'm so happy it's real now. I realize I'm living a memory and I'm in the good old days right now."
 
UP NEXT
The Aggies face a turnaround of less than 24 hours for the second in a pair of matches against New Haven. NM State returns to the Pan American Center on Saturday, Sept. 13 at 6:00 PM, as the group looks to win its third straight match. Saturday's contest will be streamed live on ESPN+ and available to follow via nmstatesports.com/stats.
 
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