Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

SAN JOSE, CA - The New Mexico volleyball team moved to 21-7 overall and 10-3 in Western Athletic Conference play after sweeping the San Jose State Spartans 25-23, 27-25, 25-26 in Spartan Gym, Thursday, Nov. 10. The Aggies have not lost to SJSU since Sept. 29, 1994 and are 22-9 against the Spartans.

NM State hit .274 as a team and held the Spartans to a .031 hitting percentage. Sophomore Stephanie Ziegler led the Aggies with a career-high 17 kills on the night and was just one dig short of a double-double. Senior libero Kelsi Phillips marked a match-high 16 digs and senior setter Jennah DeVries ran the offense with a match-high 36 assists and added eight digs.

Freshman Meredith Hays had 14 kills and senior Kelsey Brennan had a match-high .375 hitting percentage with eight kills on 16 attempts and only two errors.

The Aggies got off to a great start taking an early 7-2 lead in set No. 1. SJSU fought hard and took advantage of some Aggie attack errors to pull to within two at 15-13. NM State rallied back and went on a 5-0 scoring rally to go up 18-13 but the Spartans once again used Aggie hitting errors to pull to within one at 21-20. After ties at 21 and 22, Stephanie Ziegler hammered a kill that hit the SJSU libero in the face to give NM State some momentum. NM State won 25-23 behind six kills from Ziegler.

Set two was a tough fight for the Aggies with nine ties and six lead changes in the set. NM State took a four-point lead at 8-4 and took its largest lead of the set at 13-8 when DeVries marked a kill. After the Aggies took a 17-12 lead on a Brennan kill, SJSU came back to tie the set at 18 all and took a 19-18 lead on a SJSU kill. There were ties at 21, 22, 23 and 24 before Hays tallied a kill to win 27-25.

The Aggies dominated in set three to win 25-16. After falling behind 5-4 in the set, NM State took over and went on a 6-3 run that gave NM State an 11-7 lead after another Ziegler kill. Attack errors by the Aggies got SJSU to within one at 12-11 but a 13-5 rally gave NM State the victory.

The Aggies head to Honolulu to take on nationally ranked Hawai'i, Saturday, Nov. 12 at 10 p.m. (MT).