If the Aggies win their semifinal match, they will play in the championship match on Saturday also beginning at 6 p.m. On the other side of the bracket, No. 1 Missouri-Kansas City awaits the winner of No. 4 Utah Valley and No. 5 Seattle U for its semifinal match on Friday.
NM State is looking for its eighth trip, and third consecutive, to the NCAA Tournament. The Aggies made the NCAA twice as a member of the Sun Belt Conference (2003, 2004) and five times as a member of the WAC (2006, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2013). If NM State wins the tournament they will have made the NCAA Tournament for three-consecutive years for the second time as a member of the WAC.
MEDIA COVERAGE: All NM State matches can be heard live in Las Cruces on KGRT AM 570 with Adam Young on the call. All five tournament matches will also be streamed live for free over the Internet on the new WAC Digital Network. Go to www.wacsports.com or Click HERE for access.
LIVE STATS ON THE WEB: Live stats will be available for fans at www.NMStateSports.com at no cost all season long. Fans can click on the ‘Live Events’ link at the top of the NMStateSports.com home page or go to the volleyball schedule page and click on the ‘related links’ tab to access the live stats.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Get all the updates of Aggie Athletics on Twitter and Facebook. Get in-game statistics and in-game updates on Twitter @NMStateAggies. Find out about all Aggie Athletics promotions and events on Facebook (NM State Aggies and The Aggie Student-Athlete). Also, new this season, follow us on Instagram at NMStateAggies for photos from all the Aggie sports world.
ABOUT THE AGGIES: NM State will try to make it three WAC titles in a row in this week. It will attempt the feat with a young roster that includes six true freshman and only two seniors. The Aggies will depend heavily on three juniors, outside hitter Bradley Nash, middle blocker Gwen Murphy and setter Taylor Livoti. All three were selected to the All-WAC preseason team. Although young, NM State was still picked to win the conference regular season in the WAC preseason coaches’ poll, garnering six of eight first-place votes.
The Aggies began the season by participating in four tournaments, including two at home. During tournament play NM State welcomed No. 30 California, No. 14 Colorado State and No. 9 BYU to the Pan Am. The Aggies swept their final tournament, the Holly Young Invitational, winning three-straight matches.
NM State began WAC play by winning three-straight matches, including two five-set thrillers, before going on a 3-3 stretch in conference matches. The Aggies finished WAC play strong, however, winning four-straight matches to get within a game of conference-leading Missouri-Kansas City before losing the regular-season finale to the ‘Roos, which was for a share of the WAC regular-season title.
BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPS: The Aggies won the WAC Tournament in both 2012 and 2013. Two years ago NM State went into the tournament in San Antonio as the No. 4 seed with little hope for a title. But after handling the No. 5 seed Denver Pioneers in straight sets, the Aggies upset top-seeded Utah State, also in straight sets, to advance to the championship match where they beat No. 2 Idaho in four sets for their first-ever WAC Tournament title.
Last season NM State went into the tournament, not as an underdog, but as the favorite after winning its first-ever outright regular season title. The Aggies struggled during their semifinal match versus an Idaho team looking for revenge from the previous season, but eventually top-seeded NM State prevailed in a tough five-set battle. From there the Aggies would go on to sweep No. 2 Bakersfield in the championship match for their second-consecutive WAC title.
STATE STATS: Junior outside hitter Bradley Nash leads the Aggies with 215 total kills, a 2.34 kills/set average and 19 service aces……… Junior Gwen Murphy leads the team with a .294 hitting percentage and 104 total blocks………. Junior setter Taylor Livoti has a team-leading 587 assists and a 6.11 assists/set average…………Redshirt senior libero Hannah Walker leads NM State with 272 digs, a 4.06 digs/set average.…….Freshman Jordan Abalos leads the team with a 0.24 aces/set average
AGGIES IN THE WAC: NM State as a team ranks…...first in the WAC in opponent’s hitting percentage (.148)……………third in kills (12.70/set), assists (11.90/set) and blocks (2.52/set)……………fourth in hitting percentage (.205)
Hannah Walker is fifth in the WAC in digs (4.06/set)…………… Gwen Murphy is seventh in the WAC in hitting percentage (.294) and eighth in blocks (1.08/set)………..Taylor Livoti is seventh in the WAC in assists (6.11/set)………..Nathalie Castellanos is ninth in hitting percentage (.288)
In WAC play only, NM State is second in opponent’s hitting percentage (.146) and fourth in hitting percentage (.222)…………….Nathalie Castellanos ranks fifth in hitting percentage (.350) and Gwen Murphy ranks sixth (.338)……....Taylor Livoti is seventh in assists (5.91/set)
NATIONAL ATTENTION: NM State is ranked 10th in the country in opponent’s hitting percentage (.148) and 42nd in blocks/set (2.52)
THE MICHAEL JORDAN ERA: Mike Jordan is now in his 17th season at the head of the Aggie volleyball program. He is the all-time winningest volleyball coach at NM State with a 368-170 record. In 2013, Jordan won his sixth Coach of the Year Award (two with the Sun Belt Conference and four with the WAC) and led the Aggies to their seventh NCAA Tournament appearance (2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2013).
Jordan will try to lead his team to a three-peat of the WAC championship after finishing 2014 with a 16-10 overall record and a 10-4 conference record that netted the Aggies the two seed at the WAC Tournament. Jordan led NM State to at least 15 wins for the 16th-straight year and to a winning record for the 14th-consecutive season.
THE RECENT PAST: The Aggies swept Chicago State to set up a matchup with Missouri-Kansas City for a share of the WAC regular-season title. The conference finale did not go so well for NM State, however, as the Aggies lost in four sets to finish second in the conference and notch the No. 2 seed in the tournament.
ON THE HORIZON: Win or lose, the WAC Tournament does not conclude the season for the Aggies as the team still has a matchup left with I-10 rival UTEP on Friday, Nov. 28, in El Paso, Texas.
DOUBLE VISION: Junior setter Taylor Livoti picked up her team-leading fifth double-double of the season at Grand Canyon (Oct. 25) as she netted 29 assists and 17 digs.
Junior Bradley Nash picked up her fourth double-double of the season a couple of days earlier as she had 10 kills and 11 digs at Bakersfield (Oct. 23).
As Livoti, Andrea Tauai also marked a double-double at Grand Canyon, her third of the season. She joins freshman Jordan Abalos who also has three double-doubles on the season.
Junior Nathalie Castellanos and freshman Ashlyn Brown each have marked two double-doubles on the season.
NM State Double-Double Totals – 19 on the season from six different players