by BAKERSFIELD, Calif. – The New Mexico State volleyball team’s run at three-consecutive Western Athletic Conference championships ended abruptly on Friday after the second-seeded Aggies lost a highly-contested semifinal match to No. 3 seed and host Bakersfield in four sets, 21-25, 26-24, 26-24, 25-20.
For only the second time this season NM State (16-11) lost a match in which it won the first set. With the second and third set going to extra points, the match could have gone either way, but the Aggies just could not get over the hump in either set.
NM State, who has been battling injuries all season, was once again bitten by the injury bug as the Aggies, already playing with a hampered Hannah Walker and without WAC All-Freshman Sasha-Lee Thomas, had to go without All-WAC second teamer Nathalie Castellanos after she suffered a concussion early in the second set.
“Give Bakersfield credit, they played a good match and they were aggressive when they were supposed to be,” Aggie head coach Mike Jordan said. “I felt like we had a lot of opportunities, of course Nathalie getting hurt didn’t help, but we still battled and in that third set we just made a couple of silly mistakes.”
Still, the Aggies battled throughout and were in every set. The teams went punch-for-punch as NM State had a slight edge in hitting percentage, .229 to .217, and the ‘Runners finished with one more kill than the Aggies (60-59). Both teams also finished with nine team blocks.
With two of the team leaders out, it was freshman Jordan Abalos who put the team on her shoulders and kept NM State in the match. The freshman outside hitter finished with her fourth double-double of the season, including a career-high and team season high 18 kills to go along with a team-high 12 digs. Abalos also finished with a .342 hitting percentage, second only to junior Gwen Murphy who had a match-high .429 percentage.
“She (Abalos) played well and swung hard, she also passed the ball really well,” Jordan said. “Unfortunately we just couldn’t give her enough help.”
Murphy and Bradley Nash (Navaj0 Nation) each finished with 11 kills. Setters Taylor Livoti and Ashlyn Brown both were in double-figures assists as Livoti finished with 30 and Brown with 18. Outside hitter Andrea Tauai also added 10 digs.
Nash marked the first two points for the Aggies as the two seed took an early 5-2 lead in set number one. With NM State leading 9-7, the two teams traded two separate three-point rallies. In the end the Aggies still held a two-point lead at 15-13.
NM State would extend the lead to 20-15, at which point the two teams once again traded three-point rallies to give the Aggies a 23-18. Astonishingly, the ‘Runners added yet another three-point rally to cut the NM State lead to 23-21. But the Aggies marked the final two points to take the opening set 25-21.
NM State was led by a senior and a freshman in the opening frame as outside hitter Shelbi Goode and Abalos each marked three kills in the set.
The Aggies would trail by as many as four during the first half of set number two. But trailing 13-9 NM State embarked on a 6-1 run to take its first lead of the set at 15-14. Bakersfield would answer with yet another three-point rally.
Trailing 20-17, the Aggies would mark two-straight points to get within one of the ‘Runners. A few points later NM State marked three-straight points to take a 23-22 lead, but Bakersfield would score four of the final five points to take the set and tie the match at a set apiece.
The third set was even tighter than the second as the set saw a total of 13 ties and six lead changes. Leading 17-16, the Aggies allowed a 6-2 run to the ‘Runners to fall behind 22-19. NM State came back to tie the set at 23-23 and 24-24, but once again Bakersfield marked the final two points of the set to take a second-consecutive 26-24 set win.
The ‘Runners took an early 6-3 lead in the final set and extended it to 12-8 and then to 18-12 later in the set. The Aggies tried to fight back with a quick three-point rally, but the No. 2 seed just could not pull even with Bakersfield as the host team put NM State away late in the set.
The season is not over for the Aggies, however, as NM State still will meet I-10 rival UTEP on Friday, Nov. 28, in El Paso, Texas, beginning at 2 p.m. to conclude the season.
