It was a hard-fought weekend for the New Mexico State volleyball team as they went 2-1 while hosting the Borderland Invitational at the Pan American Center. They battled against the San Francisco Dons Friday night and Arizona State Sundevils Sunday afternoon.
The Aggies showed great determination throughout the matchup against San Franciso and fought back after falling behind two sets to one. Despite the back-and-forth nature of the match, NMSU continued to rally and overpowered the Dons both offensively and defensively to take the fourth set 25-22 and the fifth 15-9.
Redshirt sophomores Ryleigh Whitekettle and Star Williams and senior Mari Sharp combined for a total 48 kills due in part to the 40 assists by sophomore setter Bianca Perez. Senior Darian Markham led the defensive efforts with 19 of the 75 digs of the set.
After the game, head coach Mike Jordan applauded his team for their persistence.
“Last weekend, we were on the brink of losing and came back and there’s definitely some fight in this group,” Jordan said.
NM State’s next matchup against an undefeated Arizona State proved to require even more resilience. The Sundevils were riding their momentum after defeating the University of Texas El Paso previously in the tournament raising their overall record to 5-0. ASU took the match 3-1 after NMSU started strong but failed to finish.
During the first set, the Aggies earned a 25-21 win to give them the lead after Whitekettle and junior Sydney McIntosh combined for 11 kills. The Sundevils came out in the second set seeking redemption and overwhelmed the Aggies. Their victory was due in part to NMSU errors which included eight hitting errors. ASU continued to apply offensive pressure in the third and fourth set despite the strong defensive efforts by senior libero Darian Markham.
“ASU has a grad and senior team. They’ve been playing together forever,” Ryleigh Whitekettle said. “We’re getting our groove with new people coming in, and it’s a good way to get set up for conference.
Whitekettle, who had a combined 34 kills on the weekend says she feels optimistic for how they performed against a team like ASU, but there is still work to be done and mistakes to learn from.
After the loss, head coach Mike Jordan says that with conference play coming up, there are no easy games, and the beginning of the season is meant to be a challenge.
“I scheduled really tough, and the non-conference segment is just to prepare us,” coach Jordan said. “We don’t have any easy games, so we’re gonna have to get after it night in and night out.”
After the Aggies travel for the Redbird Classic and the Wildcat Classic in the coming weeks, they will continue to face non-conference opponents. They will kick off their first tournament against Illinois State on Friday, Sept. 8 at 11:30 a.m.
