RENO, Nev. - The New Mexico State volleyball team defeated Nevada 3-1 (23-25, 25-13, 25-12, 25-17) in the Virginia Street Gym in Reno, Nev., Thursday, Nov. 12 with junior Whitney Woods leading the way with a match-high 19 kills.
Woods (Lubbock, Texas) added six total blocks on a night that saw NM State set a season-high 17 total blocks. With the win the Aggies go to 17-8 overall and 12-3 in Western Athletic Conference play to pull one step closer to a No. 2 seed in the WAC Tournament. NM State faltered in set one but dominated the other three sets as junior Kayleigh Giddens (Lubbock, Texas) added 14 kills on the night.
"We made too many errors and we didn't serve very well in that first set," head coach Mike Jordan said. "Whitney (Woods) played really well and closed the block great. She did a nice job and she did a good job on some bad sets."
Sophomores Jennah DeVries (Denver, Colo.) and Kelsi Phillips (Scottsdale, Calif.) played a big role in the match as each player posted double-digit digs. DeVries marked her fifth double-double of the season as she added 40 assists to go along with her 10 digs, while it was the 18th occasion that Phillips has marked at least 10 digs with 11 against the Wolf Pack.
The Aggies struggled in set one as Nevada out-hit NM State .300-.186. NM State seemed to be off its game posting nine attack errors, two service errors and four blocking errors to give Nevada 16 of 25 points. Although, Woods got off to a hot start slamming down eight kills in the 25-23 first set loss.
Set two saw NM State pick up its game hitting .333 with 13 kills and only three errors. The Aggies held Nevada to a negative hitting percentage as NM State marked five blocks in a 25-13 win. Sophomore Kelsey Brennan (Monroe, Wash.) posted a solo block and a block assist in the set as she finished the night with six total blocks on the night. Senior Erin Birmingham (Riverside, Mo.) had a match-high 10 total blocks to take her season total to 108, tying Brennan as the team leader.
The Aggies hit the ball well again in set three to win 25-12, while again holding Nevada to a negative hitting percentage. The Wolf Pack had almost as many hitting errors (11) as the Aggies had kills (13). Woods posted six kills in the set while senior Kelli Goodan (Des Moines, N.M.) finished the set with a kill. It was the second time in as many matches that Goodan scored a point to finish a set.
Set No. 4 was close most of the way through as the Wolf Pack pulled to within one at 12-11. From then NM State went on a 13-6 run to win 25-17. The Aggies got five kills from Giddens and once again held the Nevada to a negative hitting percentage again.
NM State takes on Fresno State, Saturday, Nov. 14 in Fresno, Calif., Saturday, Nov. 14 with first serve set for 8 p.m. (MT). The match will be aired on the radio at KSNM AM 570 with Kyle Doperalski giving the play-by-play action.
Courtesy: New Mexico State University
