Amin’s Career Night Leads Aggies to Crucial Win

Aggies pass Liberty in CUSA standings with sweep in Pan American Center.

Source: NMSU Athletics
Article and Photo By Matthew Knope for NMSU: Courtesy

For a third straight time, NM State hosted a CUSA Volleyball match and earned a sweep in convincing fashion. Liberty strolled in to the Pan American Center on Friday evening, but was faced with an offensive blitz from the Aggies. The home team hit .370 across three sets as they held the Lady Flames to a .130 mark with 21 attack errors. Yasso Amin led the way individually with a career-best .750 hitting percentage on 16 swings. With the win, NM State improved to 13-10 overall and 7-4 in CUSA play.

Set-by-set: NM State wins 3-0 (25-20, 25-21, 25-15)

FIRST SET
Three quick errors from the home team put them behind 8-4 early, but they answered with a 9-2 run that was highlighted by a kill and two blocks from Nicole Briggs. Later, a solo block and kill from Starr Williams on consecutive plays put her side in front 15-12 at the media timeout. A small stretch of four points ended in Liberty success three times, prompting a timeout from Head Coach Mike Jordan with his side up 21-20. A kill from Yasso Amin sent Makayla Martinez back to the service line, where she ended the set three points later with her 13^th ace of the season and first on the night.

SECOND SET
Starr Williams opened up the second frame with back-to-back kills, but the Lady Flames pulled ahead 8-4 once again in a flash. Shortly after, Nellie Reese’s 14^th ace of the season sparked a 5-1 run that saw NM State pull back in front 11-10. Following a nine-point stretch of swapping points, Yasso Amin poured in two kills during a 4-0 burst for the home side, necessitating a stoppage from the visiting bench. Makayla Martinez dropped in an additional service ace late in the stanza, before Williams recorded the Aggies’ final two kills of the game, putting NM State up 2-0 with a 25-21 score.

THIRD SET
After 12 points, the two sides were locked at six points apiece. A Kacia Brown ace highlighted a 4-0 spurt for the Aggies as they finally pulled ahead. Just nine rallies later, Martinez tallied yet another ace, racking up three for the second consecutive match. The ace came immediately after the media timeout as NM State was on the latter half of a 5-0 run that pushed the set to an eight-point margin. The two sides traded blows for the next 11 points, but three straight Aggie kills – including the final two from Yasso Amin – ended the match with a score of 25-15. NM State won its ninth consecutive set, sweeping the first three of four matches during its current homestand.

NUMBERS OF NOTE
•    Yasso Amin recorded a career-high hitting percentage of .750 in the win, surpassing her six-year career best of .667, which occured while at UTEP.
•    The Aggies now move to 3-1 all-time against the Lady Flames and have won two straight over Liberty.
•    Makayla Martinez now leads all Aggies with 15 service aces on the season.
•    For the second straight match, Martinez tied her career high with three aces.
•    Liberty had a team hitting percentage of .130 in what was the fourth-lowest mark by an Aggie CUSA opponent this season.
•    With the win, the Aggies move to 9-2 inside the Pan American Center this season.
•    For the first time all season, NM State is three wins above .500 overall and in CUSA play.
•    Over the Aggies’ homestand, opponents are hitting .022 across the three matches (67 errors on 313 attempts)
•    Mike Jordan‘s squad is now 9-1 this season when taking each of the first two sets of a match, including nine sweeps.

FROM THE FLOOR
Head Coach Mike Jordan, on the win: “I think we’re serving the ball better, which is helping our block and our defense. If we could do a little more of that, I think that would be a big deal. More than anything, I think we’re starting to get more of the confidence that we had earlier in the year. Our job is to keep trying to reach our own standard.”

Graduate outside hitter Yasso Amin, on the key to her success: “My parents and my family have been an amazing support system. I struggled against UTEP; there were a lot of emotions there. They stuck with me, though. On top of that, you have Rilen [Garcia] and Nellie [Reese] setting dimes every time out of their hands. That makes it very easy.”

Redshirt junior outside hitter Starr Williams, on the win: “I think our serving runs really helped us. We are starting to play cleaner for longer stretches and that’s important to keep the points rolling in. we have been scrappy in practice and everyone is focused on fixing something in their game. With that, we are getting better for each other and with each other every day.”

UP NEXT
NM State and Liberty will hold a rematch tomorrow CUSA for the finale of this weekend’s series from the Pan American Center. Liberty will look to avoid falling to .500 while the Crimson & White have their eyes on a fourth straight win. The Aggies’ penultimate home series of 2024 will conclude on Saturday, Oct. 26 at 1:00 PM. The match will be streamed live on ESPN+ and available to follow via nmstatestats.com.

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Levi Gwaltney

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