The New Mexico State’s volleyball team’s stranglehold on the WAC only tightened Tuesday afternoon, dismantling Grand Canyon in a straight-set sweep to extend their dominant stretch of conference wins to 26 after defeating them 3-1 in Monday’s matchup to preserve a perfect 2021 record.

Yesterday’s four set victory was a rare occasion in which the Aggies were forced to comeback from down, dropping the first set 25-20, but rattling off three straight behind a 15 kill performance by Savannah Davison, 14 kill performance by Shaney Lipscomb and six block outing for Lindsay Blakey would keep in undefeated position heading into their sixth game of the season.

In the first set in today’s showdown had both teams going point for point before GCU went on a 5-0 run that opened things up to a 12-7 Lopes lead, but that would not last long, with the Aggies capitalizing on errors to tie things back up at 13-13 after a run of their own.

NM State kept crawling back but could never take the lead, until a crucial Mike Jordan timeout spurred three straight kills down the stretch for the Aggies, forcing GCU to call a timeout of their own. Behind 10 opening-set kills for Davison, the Aggies would find a way to hold on, 27-25.

The second set was a lot like the first with both teams fighting for points and neither team separating early. Off a beautiful set from Natalie Mikels and spike by Lia Mosher that hit right on the 10-foot line, the Aggies brought the lead to 9-6, but the Lopes brought the game right back to a tie at 10-10. A career first ace by Blakey gave the Aggies a late 22-21, and successive aces by Mikels and Davison would close things out in another tight tilt at 26-24 in favor on NM State.

After an early Lopes lead, much of the third would mimic the first two, with points being traded back and forth all the way to a 17-17 tie. Following a timeout, a Lipscomb kill would give NM State a lead that they would not look back from, pinnacling a 9-0 run. That stretched the lead to 22-17 for the Aggies. A GCU service error would seal things at 25-19 to ice the Aggie sweep.

Davison was in her usual Player of the Year form, racking up a total of 18 kills, with Lipscomb tacking on eight kills and six blocks. Natalie Mikels chipped in 20 assists on her way to cracking the 2,000 career assist mark as well as becoming the 10^th all-time leader in service aces at 121 after adding a pair to her total today.

To top it off, head coach Mike Jordan picked up his 499^th career win Tuesday, setting himself and the team up to reach a coveted 500-club in their next series in Riverside as they take on California Baptist next Monday and Tuesday.