New Mexico State volleyball riding 24-game WAC winning streak
LAS CRUCES, N.M. (BVM) 鈥� The New Mexico State men鈥檚 basketball team saw its 31-game Western Athletic Conference winning streak come to an end Jan. 29 in a 70-62 loss to Grand Canyon. But another team on campus has a winning streak that is still very much alive.
With their three-set sweep of UT Rio Grande Valley on Tuesday in Edinburg, Texas, the NMSU volleyball team has now won 24 straight WAC regular-season matches. Counting the WAC Tournament, the Aggies have 28 straight victories against conference opponents, with their last conference loss coming Nov. 3, 2018.
NMSU was picked to win its third straight WAC title in a preseason poll of the league鈥檚 coaches, with senior outside hitter Savannah Davison named the preseason player of the year and junior middle blocker Lia Mosher earning preseason All-WAC team honors. The Aggies are coming off a 27-4 season in which they finished 16-0 in conference play and made their second-straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
NMSU has reached the national tournament 11 times in 23 seasons under head coach Mike Jordan, and the Aggies have posted at least 18 wins in 19 straight seasons with the nine-time WAC Coach of the Year at the helm. Jordan needs just four more victories to reach the 500-win milestone, and it shouldn鈥檛 take too much longer to get there.
NMSU is off to a 4-0 start with two victories apiece against Dixie State and UT Rio Grande Valley and while key returners like Davison and Mosher are off to solid starts as would be expected (combining for 68 kills and 24 blocks), the Aggies are also already receiving big contributions from key newcomers like freshman outside hitter Victoria Barrett, who leads the team with 47 kills to go along with seven blocks, and junior transfer Shaney Lipscomb, who has 33 kills and eight blocks.
NMSU will have to try to keep its win streak going while away from Las Cruces. The Aggies have yet to play a match at home, and it will be a while before they do. On Jan. 28, the university announced that the team would temporarily play its scheduled home matches at the University of Texas El Paso鈥檚 Memorial Gym due to the current Covid-19 guidelines which allow the Aggies to practice in New Mexico, but not play games.
NMSU will be back in action at their temporary home venue to face Grand Canyon on Feb. 15 and 16 in a pair of rematches of last year鈥檚 WAC championship. Like the Aggies, the Antelopes are also off to a 4-0 start.
