Dominant Third Set Punctuates Home Sweep

Yasso Amin shines against her former team as Aggies sweep FIU.

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

Team	1	2	3	F
FIU	15	13	5	(0)
New Mexico St.	25	25	25	(3)

NM State (11-10, 5-4 CUSA) turned in its best performance of the Conference USA season and arguably its best outing of the entire year as it swept FIU (2-17, 0-7) on Friday night at the Pan American Center. With the win, the Aggies improve to 7-2 at home and move above .500 for the fifth time this season.

The Aggies were dominant defensively, recording 12 blocks in just three sets while holding the Panthers to a -.088 hitting percentage for the match. This also marks the lowest hitting percentage by any Aggie opponent during the 2024 campaign.

Individually, the Aggies were led on the offensive attack by junior outside hitter Ashley Herman who finished the night with a team-high 10 kills while hitting .471 on 17 attacks. Defensively, Kacia Brown’s presence was felt as she recorded a team-best five blocks to lead the charge at the net.

Set-by-set: NM State wins 3-0 (25-15, 25-13, 25-5)

FIRST SET
After allowing FIU to find the scoreboard first, NM State rattled off three unanswered points capped off by a block from the duo of Starr Williams and Kacia Brown to help the Aggies build an early 3-1 lead. Later, an ace from Rilen Garcia would finish off another streak of three straight Aggie points to set the score at 6-2.

An explosive cross-court kill from Starr Williams would jump start a 5-1 scoring run for the home side that also included the Aggies fourth block of the opening set. This would put the Aggies in front with a commanding 16-9 lead.

NM State’s defensive dominance would continue later in the set as Nicole Briggs and Starr Williams combined for back-to-back combo blocks before Williams tallied another kill to set up match point for the Aggies. Following a Panther kill, Williams would close out the set with her sixth kill of the frame.

SECOND SET
Mike Jordan‘s squad kept up the pressure in the second set as it opened the match on a 7-2 run to build the early advantage. This included an ace from freshman Makayla Martinez to start the begin the set.

FIU showed some fight and battled back to within two points before NM State pieced together another three-point streak to push its lead to 10-5. Moments later, the Aggies broke away from the Panthers with seven unanswered points to build a 10-point lead. Amid the strong stretch for the Aggies, NM State received three kills from former FIU Panther Yasso Amin who ended the night with seven kills, including five in the set.

The Aggies would later close out the match with a 5-1 run that was capped off by a stuff from the duo of Kacia Brown and Starr Williams.

THIRD SET
In the third set, the Aggies left no doubt – jumping out to a dominant 12-2 lead immediately. During this span of points, the Aggies recorded five kills, two blocks and an ace while also putting together a 10-point scoring run.

The Panthers then registered a kill before the Aggies crushed any hope of a comeback as they tallied the ensuing nine points to build an eye-popping 21-3 lead. This was kickstarted by a kill from the hand of Ashley Herman who was credited with two more kills across the nine-point stretch.

Herman then capped off a 4-1 run to put the match to bed with her 10th kill of the match – leaving the score of the third set at 25-5 to mark the most lopsided set of at least the last 10 seasons. In the final set, the Aggies held the Panthers to a -.150 hitting percentage while picking up three blocks.

NUMBERS OF NOTE
•    The Aggies now move to 13-1 all-time against the Panthers and have won four straight over FIU as Conference USA members. The Aggies’ four victories over the Panthers have also been four of their previous seven wins over CUSA opponents and have come in their last 11 CUSA matches.
•    The Aggies move to 7-2 inside the Pan American Center this season.
•    FIU’s -.088 hitting percentage against the Aggies is the lowest by an opponent this season. This also marks the second time this year that Aggies held an opponent to a negative hitting percentage – also doing so on Sept. 20 when they held Southern to a -.069 percentage across three sets.
•    NM State totaled 12 blocks on Friday night to register the third-most blocks in a single match this season. This trails only a four-set win over CSUN on Sept. 7 and a five-set victory over Kennessaw State on Sept. 27.
•    Darian Markham finished the night with 18 digs to equal the Aggies’ season-high for digs in a three-set match. This also pulls Markham to five digs away from setting the program’s all-time dig record which she will chase on Saturday afternoon against FIU.
•    With a win on Friday night, NM State now moves to 7-6 in series openers in CUSA play, including picking up back-to-back wins after also knocking off Sam Houston in the previous series.

FROM THE FLOOR
Head Coach Mike Jordan, on the win: “I think that was our best serving match of the year, and our best blocking match. Those two things go hand-in-hand, so it’s not a coincidence. We got off to a great start, with Makayla Martinez making some great digs in the first set. She gave us some transition opportunities, so I liked the way we served, blocked and defended.”

Junior outside hitter Ashley Herman, on the dominant stretches late in the match: “I think it was rough losing to Sam Houston last week after beating them, so we had a mindset in practice that we were going to win. Personally, I connected very well with Rilen [Garcia] tonight. We have such a strong bond on and off the floor, and I know that helped tonight. I think this can spark some momentum we can keep. We’re a very driven team, and I think we’re going to prove how good we are at coming together when it matters.”

Fifth-year outside hitter Mari Sharp, on what stood out from the win: “I just think I’ll remember how much fun we had. Obviously I care about wins and losses, but I just like playing with my friends. I like when we play for each other and we can enjoy our time on the court. That was one of the most fun matches I’ve ever played in my whole career. I think that was what we needed after last week. Moments like that – where you look at your teammates to see everyone smiling and having fun – that’s when you start to click and win matches.”

UP NEXT
This weekend’s second and final installment will be held tomorrow, Saturday Oct. 19 at 12:00 PM. NM State and FIU will square off one more time from the Pan American Center as the Aggies’ four-match homestand rolls on. Tomorrow’s contest will be streamed live on ESPN+ and available to follow via nmstatestats.com.

For complete coverage of NM State Volleyball, follow us on Twitter (@NMStateVBall), Instagram (@NMStateVBall) and like us on Facebook (NM State Volleyball). You can also follow along with Aggie Volleyball via NMStateSports.com.

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.