Bryan Cole / The Collegian

Fresno State volleyball caught New Mexico State off guard in set one, but that caused the Aggies to awaken and show why they̢۪re a conference giant.

Ranked No. 27 in the country, New Mexico State defeated the Bulldogs 3-1 at the Save Mart Center Saturday night, improving to 19-7 on the year and also taking their Western Athletic Conference record to 13-1.

The Bulldogs took set one from New Mexico State 25-19, but the Aggies used thunderous spikes and strong defensive play to take control the rest of the night, winning the set scores 25-16, 25-14, and 25-18 to drop the Bulldogs WAC record to 3-10 on the year.

“They’re a good team, they’re tied with Hawaii at first in the WAC,â€Â setter Allanah Munson said. “They battled, they came out on top tonight, and they did a good job.â€Â

Fresno State̢۪s set-one victory was a first against New Mexico State in three years. The Bulldogs took a 12-4 lead early in the set before the Aggies cut the lead to four. Then junior Lacey Gera̢۪s five kills help take the game over for Fresno State to go up 1-0.

“We were really pumped up as a team, and we just came out firing,â€Â Munson said regarding the first set. “We had tough serves, good passing, good ball control, and we just took care of them.â€Â

Freshman outside hitter Baylee Platt noticed how the Bulldogs were able to downsize ball errors in set one.

“We just limited our errors. We had three hitting errors in that game, which was low for us,â€Â Platt said. “We just played our game and held them down. We just didn’t play like that the rest of the match and we need to do that next time.â€Â

Set two saw both teams battling it out early with the game tied 9-9. The Aggies, however, would then outscore the Bulldogs 16-7 to take set two.

New Mexico State̢۪s strong showing in the second set gave the Aggies the momentum they needed to finish off Fresno State the rest of the night. The only deficit the Aggies had to overcome was a one-point margin in set four.

“Sets two and three, I think we got a little quiet, and we hesitated a little more,â€Â Munson said. “I think we got stronger in game four and definitely battled it out.â€Â

Fresno State scored first in set four and tied it 12-12. The Bulldogs then cut an Aggie lead to two at 18-16.

But again, the Aggies would soon outscore the Bulldogs 7-2 to finish the contest.

Baylee Platt agreed with Munson that the Bulldogs were hesitant the rest of the night.

“It was just mixed emotions out there,â€Â Platt said. “We were all trying and it just got quiet and we need to work on that in the future.â€Â

Munson finished the night with a team high 27 assists and two kills. Baylee Platt led Fresno State with 14 kills.

The Bulldogs finish the regular season with three conference games. Then it̢۪s the WAC tournament.

“We’re just going to keep working hard and get better,â€Â Munson said. “We have a couple of practices, we have three more WAC games, so we’re just going to take every opportunity we have to keep getting better and get ready for the WAC tournament.â€Â