by COLLEGE STATION, Texas – The New Mexico State Aggies overcame a 2-0 deficit, but couldn’t quite take the match, as the Texas A&M Aggies held on for a 3-2 win Sunday in the final match of the Texas A&M Invitational.
NM State (5-2) fell 25-27, 21-25, 29-27, 25-16, 9-15 to Texas A&M (4-1).
“We battled a great team today,” said NM State head coach Mike Jordan. “It was a completely even matchup that went to the home team. I’d love to have had the match at Las Cruces.”
The New Mexico Aggies got another great outing from freshman Tatyana Battle of Albuquerque, N.M./Cibola who chalked up 18 kills, while sophomore Sasha-Lee Thomas of Pottsville, Pa./Pottsville added 14 kills, hit .619 and tallied three blocks.
Senior Bradley Nash of Kayenta, Ariz. (Navajo Nation) y tallied 14 kills with two blocks and senior Gwen Murphy of Elfrida, Ariz./Valley Union added a dozen kills with an ace and three blocks.
The Crimson and White fell behind early, dropping an extended first set 27-25 and the second 25-21.
After the intermission break, NM State made some adjustments to its game.
“We did a better job of creating service pressure, then playing outside of our system to avoid their block,” said Jordan. “We needed to slow them down and it worked.”
NM State came back from a three-point third set deficit to tie the set at 21-all, then played the Texas Aggies point-for-point to extend the set. NM State won the third on a kill by Thomas and a set-point ace by Battle.
In the fourth set, NM State jumped out to a 10-point lead and held on to force a deciding fifth set with a 25-16 win.
Tied at 5-all in the deciding set, the Texas Aggies were able to open a lead and go on for the 15-9 win.
“I’m proud of the way we battled back today. Texas A&M was fantastic,” said Jordan. “Their slide attack is one of the best in the country. Unfortunately for us, they got it working in the fifth set.
“We held our own and outplayed them in long stretches. We are a Top 25 caliber team. I’m proud of how hard we work.”
The match hinged on the strong blocking game of Texas A&M, who bettered NM State 19-6 in total team blocks.
“They’re a better blocking team than we are, and they run it fast,” said Jordan. “We really couldn’t prepare for it, so we had to adjust and attack.”
Texas A&M got 20 kills and 10 blocks from Jazzmin Babers, while Kiara McGee added 20 kills with five blocks.
