OREM, Utah – In the final regular season contest before the WAC Championships, the Utah Valley University volleyball team fell to the league leading New Mexico State Aggies three sets to none on Saturday in the PE Building (23-25, 15-25, 18-25). The win seals the top seed and an undefeated WAC season for the Aggies (25-5, 14-0 WAC) while the Wolverines (14-13, 9-5 WAC) secure the three-seed at next week's conference tournament with the loss.
 
"We got beat by a better team. We unfortunately had a hard time executing today and didn't push back like we should've," head coach Sam Atoa said. "It's always important to be able to have some momentum going into the tournament, so hopefully we can gain some next week."
 
In the final home match of her career, senior middle blocker Lauren Bakker paced the Wolverines with 12 kills on a .611 hitting performance (12-for-18). The all-time UVU record holder in blocks also finished with a team-high four blocks, three digs and an ace. Freshman Abby Jensen too played well for UVU with nine kills and seven digs, while sophomore setter Sierra Starley put up a match-high 31 assists and freshman Sabrina Tanner chipped in a team-high 11 digs.
 
Utah Valley dropped the first set to NM State, 25-23, with an eight-kill effort in the set from senior Gwen Murphy. With the Aggies holding a 22-19 advantage near the end of the set, UVU countered with a kill and an ace from Bakker to pull the Wolverines' within one at 22-21. The set went back and forth from there until NM State's Murphy helped the Aggies put the set away on one of her match-high 14 kills.
 
With the Aggies holding to a 15-11 lead in the second set, NMSU managed to piece together a 4-1 run to extend its advantage to 19-12. UVU countered back with kills from Bakker and Dennison, but it wasn't enough as NM State went on to take the second frame by 10 points. Andrea Tauai led the Aggies in the set with seven kills, while Bakker put up seven kills of her own as she went a perfect 7-for-7 in the second game.
 
Both teams traded points in the early stages of the third set until the Aggies reeled off a 5-0 spurt to take a 16-11 lead. Utah Valley later cut the deficit to three a couple of times down the stretch, but New Mexico State managed to score the final four points of the match to take the set by seven points and the contest in three sets.
 
With the loss, UVU finishes its regular season with a 6-2 home record, while NM State records its 16th straight victory with the win.
 
The contest marked Senior Day for Utah Valley, as Bakker, Jaramey Barney and Megan Jenkins were all honored for their careers in Orem prior to the match. Bakker, who is a three-time first team all-conference performer, will go down in UVU history as one of the greatest volleyball players for the Wolverines. Not only is she the all-time leader in program history in every blocking category, but also became just the fourth Wolverine to surpass 1,000 career kills on Thursday in a win over UTRGV and the first to join the 1,000-career kill, 500-career block club.
 
The third-seeded Wolverines will now head to the WAC Tournament to face No. 6 UTRGV on Thursday, Nov. 19 at 4 p.m. MT/5 p.m. CT at UMKC's Swinney Recreation Center in Kansas City, Missouri. The winner of that contest will then advance on to face the second-seeded CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners in the semifinals on Friday, Nov. 20 at 4 p.m. MT/5 p.m. CT.
 
For more information on the WAC Volleyball Tournament, please visit WACsports.com.