The New Mexico State women’s volleyball team topped UT Rio Grande Valley to even the season series against the WAC foe and take sole position at the top of the conference standings early Saturday afternoon at the Pan American Center.

NMSU (15-7, 6-2) struggled to hit the ball in early in the match, but after making some half-time adjustments, Head Coach Mike Jordan’s squad dominated the third set, topping the Vaqueros 25-15 and holding a lead for almost the entire set.

“They did a good job blocking it and defending it and forced us into some uncharacteristic attack errors on the left but we were able to make some adjustments and some players really came through,” Jordan said when asked about the changes that came after the second set. “We put a team on the floor that we felt could bring a little bit of heat from different angles and we were able to do that.”

A key contributor in Hannah Combs went down with an apparent knee injury in the second set, but the Aggies were able to rally around the loss of a teammate with a much improved hitting and kill percentage in the latter half of the game. Kassandra Tohm lead the way with 16 kills and Briana Ainsworth contributed 16 digs to go with her game-high 27 assists.

New Mexico State avenged both a loss earlier this year and last season’s WAC tournament loss against UTRGV (12-9, 6-2) in a matchup that is beginning to bud into a rivalry.

This win marks the fourth straight for NMSU, who entered Saturday coming off a victory over in state rival UNM earlier in the week. This team appears to be peaking at the right time with only six games remaining until the start of the conference tournament, but Jordan still sees plenty of room for improvement.

“I think we’re trending in the right direction but I don’t think we’re peaking yet,” Jordan said. “I think there’s a high ceiling left for us to still reach, but now’s the time to do it.”

The Aggies look to continue this win streak as begin a short two-game road stand against UMKC on Oct. 26 in Kansas City, Mo. and will return Las Cruces to take on Utah Valley in their penultimate home game on Nov. 2.