The Western Athletic Conference preseason favorite New Mexico State proved too much to handle for the Trailblazers Monday afternoon as Dixie State fell in four sets to the Aggies in their first conference match of the season. 
 
Coming off a victory in its lone non-conference victory over Southern Utah on Friday, Dixie State traveled to Tucson, Arizona - New Mexico State is playing their home games there due to COVID restrictions in New Mexico - to take on the Aggies in the first of two conference matches this season.  NM State was voted the WAC preseason favorite after finishing last season with a 27-4 overall record and a perfect 16-0 conference record while culminating the year as the regular season and WAC tournament champions.
 
The Aggies showed why they are the WAC favorites this season as they took down Dixie State in four sets and limited the Trailblazers to a hitting percentage of just .107.  DSU stayed level with the Aggies to begin the first set, but a 13-5 run gave NM State an 18-10 advantage.  The Trailblazers would close the gap slightly, but the comeback bid would ultimately fall short as they lost the set 25-19.  Dixie State only committed two errors throughout the first set and hit a respectable 0.280 percent while NM State fired a .303 hitting percentage.
 
In set two, the Aggies put the clamps on defensively and forced the Trailblazers into committing 8 errors and had a hitting percentage of 0.  Dixie State was resilient though and jumped out to an 18-11 lead.  The Trailblazers continued to rally and closed the door to win set two 25-22.
 
Set three was back and forth throughout but saw NM State finish on top by a score of 25-18.  The Aggies finished the set on a 13-5 run after Dixie State gained a 13-12 lead midway through the set.  The Aggies were sharp in set three as they recorded a game-high 18 kills and committed a game-low one error resulting on a .500 hitting percentage.
 
New Mexico State came out in the fourth set and began the frame with a 10-4 run and never looked back.  The Aggies led wire-to-wire and finished the set by a score of 25-16 and earned their first victory of the season defeating Dixie State 3-1.  Despite what was the most lopsided set in terms of points, the fourth set was the worst for that Aggies in terms of hitting percentage as they hit just .029 and committed a game-high 10 errors.
 
The reigning WAC player of the Week Whittnee Nihipali led the Trailblazers in kills alongside Sydney Johnson with 9.  Megan Treanor came just short of her first triple-double of the season as she finished with 8 kills, 15 assists, and 8 digs. Dixie State out blocked the Aggies 10-9, but overall were out hit as NM State tallied a .262 hitting percentage throughout the match.
 
Dixie State will try and get revenge on the Aggies in a rematch on Tuesday beginning at 12 noon.  Live stats and streaming links can be found at dixiestateathletics.com.