by KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The New Mexico State volleyball team lost for the second time this season to Missouri-Kansas City after falling in four sets, 25-11, 25-20, 23-25, 25-12, on Saturday afternoon to the Kangaroos.
The Aggies (16-10, 10-4 WAC) finish in second place in the Western Athletic Conference behind UMKC (24-5, 12-2), which had its greatest season in program history.
NM State heads into the WAC Tournament as the No. 2 seed, which carries with it a first-round bye and an automatic placement in the tournament semifinals.
The Aggies struggled from the get go on Saturday. The ‘Roos outhit NM State .284 to .116 as the Aggies had a total of 25 service errors. Only junior Gwen Murphy hit at or above .200 for NM State, and she was right at .200.
The Aggies also lost the battle at the net as they only had five total blocks while allowing UMKC to finish with 18 total blocks, the most NM State has allowed all season with the exception of the 20 they allowed to the No. 1 blocking team in the nation, BYU.
“It was frustrating, so many opportunities to dig balls and we missed them and it led to them hitting .284,” Aggie head coach Mike Jordan said. “It certainly didn’t go well, no question. We just seemed tentative and when you play tentative bad things happen.”
Freshman Jordan Abalos was the only Aggie with double-digit kills, finishing with 11. Bradley Nash (Navajo) had 7 kills for the Aggies
The Aggies had a slow start to the match as UMKC marked the first four points of the day en route to taking an early 6-2 lead in set one.
Things didn’t get any better for the visiting team as the ‘Roos then proceeded to go on a 12-3 run that started and ended with five-point rallies. After the dust had settled NM State trailed 18-5. From there UMKC would go on to easily take the first set 25-11.
The Aggies were outhit .545 to .077 in the set number one. NM State had six attack errors and two service errors and could not string more than one point together until late in the set.
Things started a lot better for the Aggies in the second set as they scored the first three points of the set to go up early. But the ‘Roos answered with a 6-1 run that ended with four-consecutive points to take a 6-4 lead.
Another four-straight points by UMKC a little later in the set stretched the NM State deficit to six points at 15-9. The ‘Roos maintained their lead until a three-point Aggie rally cut the lead to 21-17.
NM State could not maintain the momentum, however, as UMKC held on to win the set 25-20 and take a 2-0 lead in the match.
Set three was close throughout the first half. Three straight points by the Aggies gave the visiting team a 13-12 lead midway through the set.
With the set tied at 18-18, the ‘Roos strung a 5-1 run together to take a 23-19 lead, seemingly putting away any hopes of a NM State comeback. But the Aggies dug deep and marked the final six points of the set to win 25-23 and remain in the match.
Unfortunately for NM State, the late run in the third set seemed to consume all of the team’s energy as they were never in the final set. The Aggies fell down early, 5-1 and then 12-4, and could never recover as UMKC took home the match and the regular-season WAC title.
NM State now focuses on winning its third-straight WAC Tournament and automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. The Aggies begin play at the conference tournament in Bakersfield, Calif., on Friday, Nov. 21, with the first semifinal match slated to begin at 6 p.m. (MT). NM State will face the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal match between No. 3 seed and host Bakersfield and No. 6 seed Texas-Pan American.
