EDINBURG – New Mexico State found open areas in the defense and displayed a powerful offense en route to a 25-20, 25-21, 25-15 sweep of UTRGV in the Vaqueros’ WAC home opener Monday at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.

One day after the shocking death of UTRGV men’s basketball coach Lew Hill, the Vaqueros chose to honor him by playing the match against the Aggies. Hill died in his sleep Sunday morning, after he and the Vaqueros traveled to face Texas Southern in a nonconference game Saturday evening in Houston.

“It hit a lot of people hard on campus, as well as so many who have graduated here,” UTRGV volleyball head coach Todd Lowery said after the match. “We talked to the girls this morning and left the ball in their court. They knew Lew as a competitor and felt Lew would want them to compete and that was their goal tonight.

“The best way to honor him was to come out and compete and fight for UTRGV because we all know that what Lew would want us to do.”

New Mexico State, the WAC preseason favorite to win the conference, collected 41 kills in the match and had .269 hitting percentage, outdistancing UTRGV’s kills (29), led by senior Veronika Jandova with 10, and hitting percentage (.078).

The Aggies improved to 3-0 overall and in the WAC. UTRGV fell to 0-5 overall and 0-3 in the conference. The teams are scheduled to play the second part of their two-match series at noon today at the UTRGV Fieldhouse.

The crux of the Vaqueros’ problems focused on passing, especially when serve receiving. Inconsistent and poor passes kept the Vaqueros’ big hitters, especially outside hitter Sarah Cruz, from finding a rhythm or getting the ball to their setters for more effective attacks.

The Aggies also held the edge in assists (37-34) and blocks (10-1).

“If we pass it a little bit better, maybe it is a little closer than it was,” Lowery said. “We go point for point with them when we passed it well but lost it in one rotation or two rotations (early) and would get behind seven or eight points.”

UTRGV trailed 22-14 in the first set and 17-9 in the second, before solid serving from freshman outside hitter Ada Bulgur and a kill from senior Sarah Cruz helped the Vaqueros close to 22-19 before falling.

During the second set, senior Samaret Caraballo unleashed a series of thunderous topspin jump serves that New Mexico State couldn’t handle and the Vaqueros rode those serves for a 7-0 to trail 18-16 during the second set, coming back from an 18-9 deficit. New Mexico State pushed the lead back to 24-17, before Bulgur again brought the Vaqueros back from behind the service line to 24-21, before dropping the second set.

Caraballo has been dealing with back issues and hasn’t been able to hit her jump serves consistently thus far this season.

“It was good to see her back jump serving tonight,” Lowery said. “It has been a little bit hit and missing, fighting her back but she felt good tonight and when her back feels good we’re going to turn her loose. It’s definitely a weapon for us.

“When our girls serve aggressively and serve and on the right people, we’re able to get our offense rolling a little bit better. We missed with some easy serves early and put some easy serves on their libero an when you do that against a team like Mexico State, they’re going to take advantage.”