Williams and Markham Lead Aggies to Road Victory

NM State stifles late Sam Houston momentum for second road victory of 2024.

Source: NMSU Athletics
Story and Photo by Matthew Knope: Courtesy

For the third time this week, NM State Volleyball played a match in Texas. The Aggies earned their first win in seven days with a four-set victory over Sam Houston, led by 16 kills from Starr Williams and 21 Darian Markham digs. The Aggies tallied 11 team blocks and held the Bearkats to a hitting percentage of .077. The win snaps a two-match losing skid for NM State, who now sits at fourth in the Conference USA standings at 10-9, with a 4-3 league record.

Set-by-set: NM State wins 3-1 (25-22, 25-21, 20-25, 25-18)

FIRST SET
The opening frame of the weekend featured 17 lead changes and 10 ties, as the two sides showed little separation. Ashley Herman sparked a 4-0 Aggie run with kills on three consecutive points, taking a two-point lead early on. After Nicole Briggs’ seventh solo block of the season knotted the match at 10-10, neither team built a two-point lead until Starr Williams pushed her side ahead 22-20. The redshirt junior notched her third solo block of the season to supplement two kills during a dominant 4-0 stretch for the outside hitter. A Bearkat timeout provided two straight points but an Aggie block and a home attack error handed the first set to the Crimson & White by a score of 25-22.

SECOND SET
Four different Aggies quickly recorded kills as the visitors took an 8-3 lead in the second frame. In the middle of the stanza, three straight NM State attack errors punctuated a 5-0 run for the home side as the Bearkats tied the game at 15-15 and wasted an Aggie timeout. One of Kacia Brown’s four kills in the set kickstarted a 6-0 burst in which the redshirt senior served. Four more Bearkat kills were not enough to overcome what was a six-point deficit and a Sam Houston attack error ended the set with the Aggies on top 25-21.

THIRD SET
Sam Houston tallied five separate runs of at least three or more consecutive points in the third frame, including 3-0 to open and 4-0 to close the set. Rilen Garcia poured in the Aggies’ first ace of the match to tie it at 7-7, but Sam Houston shortly responded with an ace of their own. The third set was similar to the opener in that the two sides exchanged 11 ties and eight lead changes. After SHSU led 3-0, neither side established a three-point cushion for the next 40 points, before Sam Houston pulled ahead 23-20. The Bearkat’s fifth 3-0 run of the frame turned into four straight points, ending the stanza 25-20 in favor of the home team.

FOURTH SET
The large runs did not stop, as NM State allowed a 3-0 and 4-0 burst, finding themselves down 7-2 and short one timeout quickly after the set began. NM State won five straight points and nine of 11, kickstarted by a Nicole Briggs kill, highlighted by Yasso Amin’s third solo block of the season and Mari Sharp landing her squad’s second and final ace on the day. The run propelled the Crimson & White ahead 17-16 after trailing by as many as six at 14-8. The Aggies’ 13^thservice error on the day tied the fourth set at 18-18 before Head Coach Mike Jordan‘s unit ripped off seven straight points to end the match. Ashley Herman racked up a pair of kills in the run, while Nicole Briggs led the way with a kill and two blocks, including the match-sealing denial alongside Mari Sharp. NM State took the set and match with a 25-18 victory.

NUMBERS OF NOTE
•    With the win, NM State moves up to fourth place in the Conference USA standings, trailing UTEP (7-0), WKU (7-0) and Liberty (4-0).
•    The Aggies earned their second true road victory of the season, improving to 2-6.
•    The Crimson & White are now above .500 overall for the fourth time this season.
•    Starr Williams led the way once again on the offensive end, posting 16 kills on 34 attempts for a .294 hitting percentage.
•    11 Aggie blocks were their second most in a four-set match this season, trailing only 14 versus CSUN.
•    Mari Sharp tallied 16 digs, posting a mark she has only surpassed once this season (versus Abilene Christian: 18)
•    Darian Markham led the team once again in that category as the reigning CUSA Libero of the Year racked up 21 digs in four sets to lead both teams.
•    The fifth year McKinney, Texas product is now 40 digs away from tying the all-time record for career digs by an Aggie (Krystal Torres: 1,942)
•    NM State has now won all three matches against Sam Houston since both schools joined CUSA last July. The Aggies went down 2-0 on Senior Day a year ago, but have won six of seven sets since then.
•    The Aggies’ 13 service errors rank fourth-highest in a match this season, just behind the mark of 14 that has been set on three separate occasions.
•    Two service aces are a season low for NM State, matching a mark that has now been set five times.
•    NM State is now 6-1 this season when winning each of the first two sets.
•    Head Coach Mike Jordan has now led the Aggies to 26 consecutive seasons with 10 or more wins.

FROM THE FLOOR

Head Coach Mike Jordan, on the win: “We had good moments from blockers when we needed them most, but our serve and block game is still well below average. Our mental toughness at the line and setting the block in good spots more often are two very important things. We’ll take road wins of course, but I’m still searching for a lineup that will play consistently.”

Redshirt junior outside hitter Starr Williams, on the win: “I think today we were able to play cleaner and open up room for our hitters by using our back row and middles. We have been really focusing on staying together in the rough moments and playing for each other, so I think that’s helped us when things aren’t perfect. The road win is great for us and I know we will continue to battle tomorrow and each game ahead of us.”

UP NEXT
The Bearkats will host the Aggies from the same venue at the same time tomorrow; Sunday, Oct. 13 at 12:00 PM MT (1:00 CT). NM State will look to earn its second sweep in Conference USA action/10^th win on the season in what will be their lone regular-season CUSA match of 2024. The finale between NM State and Sam Houston will air on ESPN+ and be available to follow via nmstatestats.com.

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Article posted by:

Levi Gwaltney

Levi Gwaltney is the Editor In Chief of Las Cruces Digest. The Editor makes editorial and posting decisions regarding content published on this site. In most cases, the Editor makes little if any contribution to content published, and takes no credit for the content of republished posts. If available, the source or author of posts is provided at the top of the article.