NM State volleyball did some midweek cleaning and swept Chicago State Wednesday night at the Pan American Center. The Cougars, who no longer play in the Western Athletic Conference, returned to town to play the 11-7 team.  

The first set opened quickly with a 4-1 start. Chicago State was looking for an upset when they rattled off eight points to jump ahead 9-4. The Aggies would get three straight kills as a comeback. The Cougars would stay out of reach, going up 21-16. But they stayed determined and would outscore the Cougars 9-1 to win the set 25-22, where Kaylee Peterson took the first ace of her career on the court. 

In the second half, NM State continued to ride their early success cruising to a 10-2 lead early in the second. They later jumped out to the lead with four players tallying a kill, where Mari Sharp would add on an ace as well. The Cougars would get two points in a row, to come within seven. The Aggies were determined to get a sweep as they would score five straight in order to grow the lead to 12. NM State would finish the set with a 6-1 run to win 25-9.  

In the third and final set, the Cougars would trail by a point for most of the game. Soon, the Aggies would go on a 7-1 run to jump out to a 13-6 lead. The Aggies would continue their run, to jump out 21-9, where Rylee Fay recorded her first ever career block. Chicago State would get one singular point to end the game, 25-10. This win will continue the dominance the NM State volleyball team has shown in their games, as they move to all-time record 20-0 against Chicago State. 

“We’re just not yet in a spot where we’re real confident as a group and so we’re a little tentative, but fortunately, we started to relax a little bit and a couple of people really started playing well and that was a big difference in the match,” head coach Mike Jordan said.  

Molly Johnson would end the game with 11 kills and 10 digs. Sharp would also have an impressive night as well, recording 11 kills and 9 digs. Lia Mosher was also a standout with 5 kills, 7 digs and 3 blocks.  

“As a team, we decided wanted to come out with a lot of energy, you know, we’ve been on the road a lot,” Johnson said. “Five flights in four days is a lot. We were a little tired, but we said to ourselves, ‘We’re gonna start strong, and finish strong’ and that’s what we did.”

The NM State women’s volleyball team will have the next week off, until they play California Baptist on Thursday, Oct. 20, before playing Grand Canyon on Oct. 22, 2022.