Lightheart Dazzles in Aggies’ Fourth Straight Sweep

NM State wraps up perfect homestand with victory over Liberty.

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

The Aggies’ longest homestand of the season came to a perfect conclusion on Saturday. NM State swept Liberty, increasing its streak to 12 straight sets won. Four different Aggies were tied for a team lead with eight kills, including Maggie Lightheart with her best performance of the season. The Crimson & White now find themselves tied for third in the Conference USA standings at 8-4, alongside Sam Houston. The upcoming schedule does not get any easier for the Aggies, as they next prepare for a road series with CUSA-undefeated Western Kentucky.

Set-by-set: NM State wins 3-0 (25-13, 25-19, 25-17)

FIRST SET
Saturday’s opening stanza was NM State’s most dominant of the weekend, cruising to a 25-13 victory. A quick 6-2 lead found its way to the home bench, and the Aggies never looked back. There was not a tie or lead change in the first set as Mike Jordan‘s squad was in complete control. Maggie Lightheart saw the most early action so far this season, quickly tallying four kills on her first four swings to pull ahead 19-10 and force a timeout from the visitors. During Lightheart’s explosion, the Aggies racked up three aces, including two within a three-point stretch from Kacia Brown. Mari Sharp tallied five kills to pace all Aggies in the opening set, including two kills in the final stretch of the frame. Sharp would team up with Aleka Darko to puncuate a dominant first set with a block, denying Elizabeth Helmich and winning 25-13.

SECOND SET
Liberty took a 2-1 lead in the second set, which would later prove to be their only advantage of the entire match. NM State began a 5-0 run with back-to-back solo blocks from Mari Sharp and Starr Williams, before an Ashley Herman kill that capped off the burst brought the crowd to its feet and forced a timeout from the Lady Flames. Shortly after, Nellie Reeseand Makayla Martinez each recorded their 16^th ace of the season to bookend a 6-1 Aggie spurt. After another timeout while trailing 18-10, Liberty rallied to swap each of the next 14 points. The visitors broke the streak with a 3-0 run, but the damage had already been done as NM State sat with 24 points. Kacia Brown’s third kill of the set matched Ashley Herman’s total to lead all Aggies as the home team took a 2-0 lead after a 25-19 victory.

THIRD SET
Five Liberty attack errors and two Aggie blocks gave the Crimson & White a 9-2 lead almost instantly. While a quick 4-0 run forced an Aggie timeout and cut the Liberty deficit to four, the margin would never creep any closer than that. NM State utilized four efficient kills from Kacia Brown while the defense held firm. Five blocks from the home team were the most by either team in any set the whole weekend. Darian Markham vacuumed whatever the block failed to deny, racking up eight of her match-high 13 digs in the decisive set. True freshman Mia Fox entered the action at match point, recording a kill to seal the win at 25-17.

NUMBERS OF NOTE
•    Maggie Lightheart’s eight kills were a season high, surpassing her previous best of four versus Texas Southern.
•    The sophomore also racked up a .462 hitting percentage, setting a career high in matches with at least five attempts (previous: .281 at Jax State in 2023).
•    Makayla Martinez and Nellie Reese are now tied with a team-high 16 aces this season.
•    Martinez has now recorded an ace in four straight matches, tallying eight over that span.
•    Liberty had a team hitting percentage of .032 in what was the fourth-lowest mark by an Aggie opponent this season (Southern, FIU twice).
•    With the win, the Aggies move to 10-2 inside the Pan American Center this season.
•    For the first time all season, NM State is four wins above .500 overall and in CUSA play.
•    Over the Aggies’ homestand, opponents hit .027 across the four matches (87 errors on 408 attempts).
•    Mike Jordan‘s squad is now 10-1 this season when taking each of the first two sets of a match, including 10 sweeps.
•    The Aggies now move to 4-1 all-time against the Lady Flames and have won three straight over Liberty.

FROM THE FLOOR
Head Coach Mike Jordan, on the keys to the homestand: “Well, it was impressive; the way that we served it. A little better service pressure helped our block. I thought we played hard defensively and gave ourselves transition opportunities that we didn’t get earlier in the season. Those are good things and we’ll take them.”

Head Coach Mike Jordan, on Maggie Lightheart: “She works, she comes in and she does her job. She’s done this before. Last year, Mari [Sharp] was sick and she stepped in and played a good match at Jax State. Maggie’s not necessarily the highest flyer, but she really understands how to play the game. She’s learned, she knows how to hit high hands and she utilizes it. We saw that today.”

Sophomore outside hitter Maggie Lightheart, on staying ready: “I prepare for a lot mentally. I go in for specific moments on occasion, so being able to control the anxiety and nervousness is something I’ve grown on.”

Sophomore outside hitter Maggie Lightheart, on the keys to her performance: “I think having my teammates behind me was so important. Knowing that they have my back and I have theirs makes it easy to have confidence and perform. As a group, we’ve all built our confidence recently and I think we can do really great things down the stretch.”

UP NEXT
NM State will return to road action next week for a bout with the league’s five-time defending champion. The Aggies will head to Bowling Green, Ky. for a matchup with the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers (19-6, 12-0). WKU recently wrapped up a tightly-contested trip to El Paso in which it came out on top both times and extended its regular-season CUSA winning streak to 86 matches. Both contests in Diddle Arena will be streamed live on ESPN+ and available to follow via nmstatestats.com.

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Levi Gwaltney

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