NM State Defeats Aggie Alum 3-1 on Saturday

The New Mexico State volleyball team defeated the Aggie Alumni 3-1 (25-22, 25-12, 25-20, 22-25) in the Annual Alumni Match at the Pan American Center, Saturday, Aug. 18.

Sophomore outside hitter Meredith Hays led the 2012 Aggies with a team-high 12 kills on the evening while also pickup up 10 digs on the night for a double-double. Head coach Mike Jordan took a look at three different setters on the evening including junior-transfer Ciara Brown, sophomore Maggi Jo Keffury and freshman Taylor Livoti, while Keffury led the charge with 14 assists and one service ace on the evening.

"It is so much fun to see the Alum and they played great defense so it was good for us," Jordan said. "I think we got a clear picture on a couple of different positions to see who is going to be the starter. We did a good job defending and we passed better than I thought we would at this point. I saw a lot of good things but we still have a lot of work to do."

NM State ended the evening with 15 total team blocks with junior middle hitter Desiree Scott marking six block assists and two solo blocks. Redshirt freshman Gwen Murphy added four block assists and two solos and freshman Jordan Reifsteck was the only other player to tally a double-digit evening as she had 10.

Stevi Adams-Maytubby posted nine kills for the Alumni while Krista Altermatt added seven. Defensive specialist and former All-American Krystal Torres was stellar in the back row as she picked up some hard hit balls that were hit at her. She finished with a match-high 24 digs with 14 of them coming in set No. 3.

The NM State Alum tied the first set three times and even led early on before falling 25-22. The 2012 Aggies dominated set two hitting .429 as a team and holding their opponent to a negative hitting percentage.

Set three was back-and-forth as there were six ties and two lead changes. With the score 13-10 the Aggie Alum gave away consecutive points on errors to allow the current Aggies to pull away and eventually win 25-20.

The Alumni team played well in set four pounding down 16 kills compared to only eight by the 2012 team. Whitney Phillips led the Alumni offense with eight kills in the set and hammered out a match-high 22 on the evening.

NM State looks for to the season opener against Wichita State, Friday, Aug. 24 at 4:00 p.m. (MT) in DeKalb, Ill. The Aggies will also be taking on North Dakota State and Northern Illinois next weekend as a part of the Northern Illinois Tournament. All three matches are scheduled to air on KNSM AM 570 with the voice of Aggie volleyball, Kyle Doperalski giving the play-by-play action.