2015 Class

View larger LAS CRUCES, N.M. – New Mexico State volleyball head coach Mike Jordan announced the signing of four student-athletes for the 2015 season on Thursday, including two players from the state of New Mexico. Tatyana Battle, Briana Ainsworth, Bryn Popovich and Megan Hart have all signed on to begin playing for Jordan and the Aggies beginning next season. “It’s an athletic class filled with a lot of size, which is something we need,” Jordan said. “They all come from winning backgrounds and they’re all great young women, we’re excited to have them all.” Battle just finished her volleyball career at Cibola High School in Albuquerque by leading the Cougars to the 6A state championship. The 6-0 outside hitter led her team to a straight-set win in the championship match over No. 1 Rio Rancho after posting a match-high 21 kills. She finished her senior season at Cibola with 251 total kills, a 5.10 kills per set average and a .408 hitting percentage while adding 193 digs, 38 total blocks and 20 service aces. “Tatyana is a six-rotation player that’s got a lot of skill now, she’s improved a lot this last year,” Jordan said. “I think Tatyana will fill a hole for us in that she is a six-rotation outside hitter, someone that can stay on the floor.” Battle also plays for the Albuquerque Rebels club team, which has finished in the top 5 in several national tournaments, including a first-place finish at the 17-open Disney Showcase in Orlando, Florida, earlier this year. Ainsworth, another Albuquerque native, played her high school volleyball at Cleveland High School. One of the best setters in the state of New Mexico, Ainsworth led the Storm to the semifinals of this season’s 6A state championships. Ainsworth did help Cleveland to the 2012 New Mexico state championship. The 5-8 setter finished her senior season with 868 assists and an 11.90 assists per set average. She also added 245 digs and 78 kills. “Briana is a winner,” Jordan said. “She’s not a big setter but she locates really well and she’s got a lot of experience setting balls with a little bit of pace to the antenna and she’s a good defender and really good server.” For her Storm career Ainsworth finished with 2,458 total assists, including 1,037 as a sophomore, an 11.80 career assists per set average and 600 digs. Ainsworth is also a teammate of Battle on the Albuquerque Rebels club team. Popovich hails from Sierra Vista, Ariz., where she played for the Buena High School Colts. The 6-2 outside hitter lettered all four years in high school and has earned all-division and All-Southern Arizona honors the last three years. “Popovich is a good front-row athlete,” Jordan said, “but is also a very good back-row attacker long term, someone we can see playing in six rotations with some work.” This season she led the team with 242 total kills and a 3.80 kills per set average. For her career Popovich has amassed 704 kills, 99 blocks, 449 digs and 128 service aces. Hart is a 6-4 middle hitter from Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada. She plays her prep volleyball for Immaculata Regional High School where she was a three-time first team all-star selection. “Megan is a 6-4 gifted athlete with arm speed that can play multiple positions in the front row,” Jordan said. Hart also plays for two of the biggest club teams in British Columbia, one of which won the 17-under British Columbia Provincial championship earlier this year. The current Aggies are in Bakersfield, Calif., awaiting the winner of tonight’s match between third-seeded Bakersfield and No. 6 seed Texas-Pan American. NM State plays the winner on Friday in the semifinal round of the WAC Tournament. All WAC Tournament matches can be seen live over the Internet on the new WAC Digital Network. Go to www.wacsports.com and click the ‘WAC Digital Network’ link for access.

Team Costume Party 2014

Brad's Bi-Weekly report

Brad's Blog/Aggie Anticdotes

Upgraded Weight Room ( Coca Cola Center)

Slideshow 2013 WAC Champs

Lauren's Road Trip adventure to Pan Am

Lauren's Lowdown- Hawaii road trip

Lauren's Lowdown- Sasha Lee Thomas

Lauren's Lowdown Alumni weekend

Lauren's Lowdown- BLOOBERS

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Lauren's Lowdown Summer #2

Lauren's Lowdown Summer 13

Volleyball Parody NMSU Teams 2013

Lauren's Lowdown April 15

Lauren's Lowdown- Weekly video interview

My thoughts about spring so far after winning a championship...

This is my fourth spring in my college career, and I am happy to say it's  my last. It has already proven to be a challenge for myself and the other girls on the team. After winning a championship and making it to the NCAA tournament there is a much higher standard to up hold. Each and every girl has higher expectations for themselves as well as everyone else on the team. The workouts are challenging and designed to make us push ourselves to exhaustion, while also pushing our teammates to keep up with the person in the lead. As you can imagine this can be quite difficult, especially at 6am. This has already made us stronger physically and mentally as individuals, but it has also helped us become a stronger team unit. We all know going into each workout we're all doing it together, and no matter what we're going to make sure each and every one of us finishes. We also have individuals twice a week, which are going very well. We are all learning a lot and making huge strides in our progress. The atmosphere in the gym is much different now then it was in the fall. We are not just content to only win the conference tournament and make it to the NCAA tournament, we have raised the bar and want to win both the conference and conference tournament, as well as make it to the sweet sixteen. This is no easy task but with as many returners as we have, it is most definitely achievable. I am looking forward to next season, but first we have to make it through the rest of spring!

#1 Hannah Walker
Go Aggies!

My thoughts about making the NCAA tournament and the entire journey leading up to that..

This was my first time as well as majority of the team to make it to the NCAA tournament. For practice we did more film than usual to get ready for the first round. Going to play the home team in the first round was going to be hard and we all wanted to continue on so we knew preparation was serious. The NCAA tournament is like any other travel trip but at the same time different. We had never played that team before and for travelling we used a bus, which we do not normally do. I was nervous but extremely excited to be there and go to the next round. Since I have been here we have always ended second at the WAC tournament so winning was not only a huge accomplishment but opened a door to another opportunity to play. Throughout season we had ups and downs. We started very strong winning major games in the beginning of the year. Then through conference play, we had lulls that hurt us. As a team we get along great off the court and could not figure out why things did not mesh together on the court often. The WAC tournament was by far my favorite. We played great together and seemed to have a different flow. I think we may have taken teams by surprise since we did not play like that throughout the season. We showed excitement even when we were down to get back up. Taking Utah State who was the first seed in three was just incredible. I am hoping through spring we continue to work together and want to have a steady flow next year and show teams what we are like. It is in our future to go farther than the first round of the NCAA tournament!

#15 Stephanie Ziegler