DENVER, CO - The 2015 academic all-WAC men's and women's cross country, men's and women's soccer and volleyball teams have been announced for the fall. A total of 258 student-athletes including 18 New Mexico State student-athletes representing men's and women's cross country, soccer and volleyball, were named to the list for the fall. To be eligible, a student-athlete must have completed at least one academic year, have at least a 3.2 cumulative grade point average and have participated in at least 50 percent of the team's contests. The following is a list of the Aggies' fall sport honorees:

Men's Cross Country
Ricardo De Santiago, Jr.
Brett Finton, So.
Stephen Wallace, Jr.

Women's Cross Country
Cristina Amberg, So.
Sofia Bali, So.
Jacqueline DuBois, So.
Mikayla Pulliam, So.
Sydney Salas, So.

Women's Soccer
Gabrielle Campbell, Jr.
Mikaela Haley, Sr.
Micaela Milavec, So.
Alexis Rienks, So.

Volleyball
Nathalie Castellanos, Sr.
Taylor Livoti, Sr.
Bradley Nash, Sr.
Kaylee Neal, So.
Andrea Tauai, Sr.
Kassandra Tohm, So.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: WAC Media Relations

LEXINGTON, KY – NM State senior Gwen Murphy has been named a 2015 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Honorable Mention All-American. This marks the first year all Honorable Mention All-Americans were selected by the selection committee, as previously players who made All-Region were automatically honorable mention if they didn't make one of the three teams.

The WAC Player of the Year and WAC Tournament MVP, Murphy averaged 3.29 kills on .421 hitting, 0.83 blocks and 0.67 digs per set. A three-time WAC Player of the Week during the season, she was named AVCA National Player of the Week for Aug. 24-30, becoming the first Aggie ever to earn the honor. Murphy also broke the WAC record for hitting percentage in a match when she finished with 14 kills on 15 attempts and no errors for a .933 hitting percentage against Robert Morris. The previous record was .889.

The selections were made by the AVCA Division I All-America Committee: Chair: Sherry Dunbar, Indiana University; South Region: Karen Weatherington, UNC Charlotte; East Region: Alma Kovaci, Army; East Coast Region: Dennis Hohenshelt, Virginia; Midwest Region: Melissa Stokes, Missouri State; North Region: Cathy George, Michigan State; Northeast Region: Ryan Baker, Colgate; Pacific North Region: Shawn Garus, Boise State; Pacific South Region: Liz Kritza, Colorado; Southeast Region: Scott Swanson, South Carolina; Southwest Region: Jill Kramer, TCU.

Written By: WAC Media Relations

LEXINGTON, KY - NM State senior Gwen Murphy has been named to the 2015 All-Midwest Region team, announced today by the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA).

The WAC Player of the Year and WAC Tournament MVP, Murphy averaged 3.29 kills on .421 hitting, 0.83 blocks and 0.67 digs per set. A three-time WAC Player of the Week during the season, she was named AVCA National Player of the Week for Aug. 24-30, becoming the first Aggie ever to earn the honor. Murphy also broke the WAC record for hitting percentage in a match when she finished with 14 kills on 15 attempts and no errors for a .933 hitting percentage against Robert Morris. The previous record was .889.

Those named to the all-region teams are now eligible for All-America honors, which will be announced next week during the AVCA Convention.

The New Mexico State volleyball team learned their destination in the 2015 NCAA Vollyeball Tournament on Sunday night as the 64-team field was unveiled on ESPNU. The Aggies were placed in the San Diego Regional and will face No. 8 national seed Stanford at Maples Pavilion in Palo Alto, Calif., home of the Cardinal, on Thursday night at 8:00 p.m. MT.

The Cardinal (22-6) finished in 2nd place in the Pac 12 behind regular season co-champions USC and Washington, the No. 1 and No. 5 national seeds respectively.

The Aggies and Cardinal have met three times with Stanford holding a 3-0 advantage with the last meeting coming in 2008, a 3-0 sweep by Stanford.

The two teams had three common opponents during the 2015 season -- Texas A&M (the No. 10 national seed), Arizona and Arizona State, all three of whom are in the championship field. The Aggies took both the Texas Aggies and Sun Devils to five sets before falling 3-2 and dropped a four-setter at Arizona. Stanford swept Texas A&M in their season opener, swept the two conference meetings with Arizona (W 3-2, W 3-1) while splitting their two conference meetings with Arizona State (L 3-1, W 3-0).

The Cardinal are hitting .277 as a team while holding opponents to a .207 hitting percentage. The Cardinal average 1.1 service aces per set and average 2.8 blocks per set which is Top 20 in the nation.

Stanford is led offensively by freshman outside hitter Hayley Hodson who is averaging 3.85 kills per set and is hitting .261 for the season. Redshirt sophomore middle blocker Merete Lutz and senior outside hitter Brittany Howard are averaging 3.18 and 3.06 kills per set while hitting .386 and .305 respectively.

The Aggies' strong non-conference schedule should help prepare them for this first round matchup with seven of the Aggies' opponents making the 64-team field. Texas (L 3-1) earned the No. 2 national seed, Texas A&M (L 3-2) the No. 10 national seed while Arizona (L 3-1), Arizona State (L 3-2), Denver (W 3-2), Wichita State (W 3-2) and Robert Morris (W 3-0) all making the field.

The Aggies will be looking for their second NCAA Tournament victory having last won in 2008 when they defeated St. Mary's (CA) 3-1 before falling to Cal 3-1. The Aggies' match is set to tip off at 8:00 p.m. MT and will follow the first matchup of the pod which will see Colorado State (26-3) face off against Loyola Marymount (22-8).

Tickets for the first and second rounds will be available online at www.GoStanford.com or by calling 1-800-STANFORD.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: WAC Media Relations

KANSAS CITY, MO - The 2015 WAC volleyball award winners, as selected by the league’s eight head coaches, were announced tonight at the WAC Tournament banquet. NM State senior outside hitter Gwen Murphy was named WAC Player of the Year, while Utah Valley’s Abby Jensen was named WAC Freshman of the Year and NM State head coach Mike Jordan was named WAC Coach of the Year.

Six of the eight schools were represented on the teams. NM State led the way with five selections, while Seattle U had four.

Murphy earned WAC Player of the Year honors after ranking second in the league in hitting percentage (.435), fifth in blocks (0.98), seventh in points (3.78) and eighth in kills (3.00) in WAC matches. She hit .300 or better in 10 of 14 WAC matches and had 10 or more kills in eight WAC matches. She set the all-time WAC record for hitting percentage earlier this season when she hit .933 against Robert Morris.

Jensen earned WAC Freshman of the Year honors after averaging 3.28 points, 2.88 kills and 1.87 digs in WAC play. In WAC play only, she ranked ninth in the conference in kills per set, had one double-double and posted 10 or more kills eight times.

Jordan led his team to a perfect 14-0 mark in WAC play to become just the fourth school ever to finish WAC play unbeaten. This is NM State’s third WAC regular-season title, its second outright title and first since the 2013 season. This is the fifth time Jordan has earned the honor.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

DENVER, CO - NM State senior outside hitter Gwen Murphy has been named Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Nov. 9-15, the conference announced on Monday. This is Murphy’s third WAC Player of the Week honor of the season and her career.

The Elfrida, Ariz./Valley Union HS native led the Aggies to a 2-0 record on the road last week to finish WAC play undefeated, becoming just the fourth team ever and the first team other than Hawai’i to do so since 1993.

Murphy averaged 4.31 points, 3.25 kills on .632 hitting, 1.25 blocks, 0.50 digs and 0.38 service aces per set over the two matches. With the 4.31 points, she accounted for 25.09 percent of the Aggies total points for the week.

On Wednesday, she finished with 12 kills on .611 hitting, five blocks, four digs and two service aces in a thrilling five-set win at Seattle U.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

CHICAGO, IL - NM State volleyball dominated in its 3-0 win over Chicago State on Saturday afternoon at the Jacoby Dickens Center.

The Aggies finished the two match road trip with their 10th straight win in conference play, with the 25-23, 25-18, 25-13 decision.

It was the same story as it has been for most of the season, with the senior duo of All-America candidate Gwen Murphy and recent Aggie of the Week recipient Nathalie Castellanos leading the way for NM State.

Murphy, a native of Elfrida, Ariz./Valley Union HS, registered her second straight match of double-digit kills with 10. Castellanos, the Vado, N.M./Gadsden HS native, led NM State with 11 kills and an astonishing .667 hitting percentage.

"Nathalie was really good today, as was Gwen," head coach Mike Jordan said. "We played Gwen a little more on the left, and played Nathalie more in the middle, which was good."  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

DENVER, CO - NM State senior outside hitter Gwen Murphy has been named Western Athletic Conference Volleyball Player of the Week for the week of Sept. 7-13. This is her second WAC Player of the Week honor of the season and her career.

The Elfrida, Ariz. native led the Aggies to a 3-1 record at the Borderland Invitational last weekend, with the only loss coming at the hands of Oklahoma in a thrilling five-set match. Murphy, who had the match high in kills in all four matches, averaged 3.69 kills on .505 hitting and 0.75 blocks per set en route to all-tournament team honors. She opened the week with 15 kills and two blocks in the five-set loss to the Sooners. In a sweep of Robert Morris on Friday, Murphy finished with 14 kills on 15 attempts and no errors for a WAC single-match record .933 hitting percentage, breaking the previous record of .889 set in 1999. Later in the day, she posted 10 kills on .588 hitting to go along with three blocks and two digs. On the day, she had 24 kills on 32 attempts with no errors for a .750 hitting percentage. Murphy closed out the week with a career-high 20 kills and four blocks in a five-set win over Denver.

Written By: NM State Athletic Dept.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - New Mexico State volleyball middle blocker Gwen Murphy is the first Western Athletic Conference Player of the Week recipient for the 2015 season, the conference announced on Monday.

Murphy, a senior from Elfrida, Ariz., picks up her first-ever WAC Player of the Week nod. It is also the first volleyball player of the week honor for the Aggies since Desiree Scott brought home a couple in 2013.

“Gwen was fantastic, she works hard and it is paying off,” NM State head coach Mike Jordan said. “Her performance this past weekend has to be one of the best ever here at NM State.”

Murphy led the Aggies to a 3-1 record at the Falcon Classic last weekend, with the only loss coming at the hands of No. 16 Arizona State in a thrilling five-set match.  Continue Reading This Post >>

Written By: WAC Media Relations

DENVER, CO - The Western Athletic Conference volleyball coaches have selected Missouri-Kansas City to win the WAC regular-season crown in 2015. The coaches also voted on the preseason award winners and Utah Valley senior middle blocker Lauren Bakker was the pick for WAC Preseason Player of the Year.

UMKC received four of the first-place votes and 45 total points to earn the top spot in the poll. NM State earned two first-place votes and 40 total points, followed by Seattle U with one first-place vote and 37 points in third place. CSU Bakersfield was picked to finish fourth with 33 points and the other first-place vote, followed by Utah Valley in fifth with 28 points. Grand Canyon in sixth with 20 points, while The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley and Chicago State round out the poll with 13 and eight points, respectively.

UMKC, NM State and Seattle U placed the most players on the preseason All-WAC team with three apiece, while CSU Bakersfield and Utah Valley had two each. Joining Bakker on the preseason team is teammate Macky Fifita, UMKC’s Sydney Crimmins, Jessica Hendin and Taryn Miller, NM State’s Nathalie Castellanos, Gwen Murphy and Bradley Nash, Seattle U’s Matea Mamic, Martina Samadan and Jelena Vujcin, CSU Bakersfield’s Luiza Martins and Kelsee Sawyer, and Grand Canyon’s Natalie Tardy.

The 2015 season begins Friday, Aug. 28, with all eight teams in tournament action. The 2015 WAC Tournament, hosted by UMKC, will be held Nov. 19-21, at Swinney Recreation Center, and will include the top six eligible teams in the regular-season standings.  Continue Reading This Post >>