New Mexico
No. 14 Jackets bounce back for wins over New Mexico State and Coastal Carolina
Jack here, this is not me doing the recap, but instead is our newest staff writer, my dear friend and partner in crime during our Technique days, Will Fuss. Fuss is a Tech BSIE graduate in the class of 2023 who worked as the Sports Staff Writer (Fall ‘20), Sports Editor (Spring ‘21-Fall’22), and Paper Boy (Spring ‘23) for the Technique while in school. They have covered every Tech varsity sport and have been a Tech fan for 23 years and grew up in the Atlanta area. Fuss will have his byline properly listed once we get his account sorted out!
Following a tough loss to a talented UCLA squad, Georgia Tech Volleyball handled business against their remaining GT Invitational foes by dispatching New Mexico State in four sets and a dominant sweep over Coastal Carolina. The Jackets move to 2-1 on the season and hold onto a No. 19 ranking as UCLA sneaks into the top 25.
Head coach Michelle Collier moved one win shy of 200 on the weekend, and will become the second Jacket volleyball skipper to reach the threshold. O’Keefe Gymnasium continues to fill up for every home tilt, as the sellout streak hit 30 games against the Aggies on Sunday afternoon.
Tech played efficient games to dispatch New Mexico State and Coastal Carolina, hitting .367 against the Aggies and completing the sweep against the Chanticleers by an average score of 25-18. Larissa Mendes totaled 31 kills, including 23 against New Mexico State (her career high), and Tamara Otene and Bianca Bertolino recorded double-doubles on Sunday and Monday respectively.
Sunday, September 1: 3-1 Win over New Mexico State
The Jackets dominated three of four sets against the Aggies, winning sets one, two, and four by scores of 25-13, 25-12, and 25-11. New Mexico state took the third set 25-21 on a hyper efficient .500 hitting percentage that included 10 kills by Starr Williams alone and only two attacking errors.
Tech played a shallow bench, with only nine players seeing action and the starters playing every point in the fourth set. Mendes and DeAndra Pierce each had eight-plus kills on a .500 or greater hitting percentage, including a career-high 23 kills by Mendes.
Otene had the game’s only double-double with 13 kills and 14 digs, while Bertolino’s nine kills and 16 digs left her just shy of the double-double mark. Luanna Emiliano recorded 43 assists, Sofia Velez had 16 digs, and Liv Mogridge had an efficient eight kills along with three of the team’s 10 blocks.
Monday, September 2: 3-0 Win over Coastal Carolina
Tech rounded out the weekend with a sweep over Coastal Carolina, holding the visitors to a .055 hitting percentage on the day. The Institute squeezed out a close first set win, 25-23, before more comfortable results of 25-12 and 25-19 for the win.
Only one Chanticleer, Jalyn Stout, had more than two kills with a positive hitting percentage, as her nine kills and two aces paced the visitors. Velez and Otene had 15 and 12 digs respectively as the Jackets benefited from clean receptions and 33 combined attacking and service errors by the Chanticleers.
Bertolino paced the Jackets offensively with 10 kills and added 11 digs for her second double-double of the year. Mogridge and Pierce both tallied at least five kills without an error, and Pierce had a game-high five blocks.
Takeaways
Bounce back: After dropping a close opener against a good UCLA team, Tech used the day off to reset and soundly defeat their remaining weekend slate. The sweep of Coastal Carolina was a strong finish to the weekend, but the team may have played even better against the Aggies besides the dropped third set.
Short leash: While the first two sets against New Mexico State were 25-13 wins, the third set loss spurred Collier into cutting out the bench entirely. Her trust paid off with a 25-11 final set win, but the Jackets will need more reliability from the reserves against the nation’s top teams.
Next Up
Tech travels to Provo to face Lipscomb and BYU on September 6 and 7. BYU is ranked No. 14 after a 3-0 start, and will be the Jackets’ first big road test. Each match will get underway at 9 p.m. Eastern.
New Mexico
Deadspin | Hank Brown steals spotlight as Auburn rolls over New Mexico
Hank Brown threw four touchdown passes and Jarquez Hunter rushed for 152 yards and scored two touchdowns as host Auburn held off New Mexico for a 45-19 nonconference victory on Saturday night.
Brown replaced Payton Thorne, who threw four interceptions in a loss to Cal last week, as the Tigers’ starting quarterback and completed 17 of 25 passes for 235 yards. Hunter caught one of Brown’s TD passes and rushed for another score for the Tigers (2-1).
Devon Dampier completed 22 of 44 passes for 291 yards and a touchdown to lead the Lobos (0-3). Dampier was picked off twice.
Auburn received the second-half kickoff and drove to Brown’s 3-yard touchdown pass to Micah Riley that gave the Tigers a 24-13 lead.
Brown’s 14-yard scoring pass to Hunter increased the lead to 31-13 by the end of the third quarter.
Dampier threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Caleb Medford to pull the Lobos within 31-19 early in the fourth. Four plays later, Brown threw a 26-yard TD to Rivaldo Fairweather to increase the Auburn lead to 38-19.
New Mexico missed a scoring opportunity later in the fourth after Auburn muffed a punt and the Lobos gained possession at the Tigers 32, as the visitors ended up turning the ball over on downs.
Auburn’s Damari Alston soon ran 22 yards for a touchdown that completed the scoring with 5:51 remaining. On the first possession of the game, New Mexico drove to Luke Drzewiecki’s 33-yard field goal, and Auburn answered on the ensuing drive with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Brown to Camden Brown for a 7-3 lead.
NaQuari Rogers’ 3-yard scoring run gave the Lobos the lead before Hunter’s 2-yard touchdown run gave Auburn a 14-10 edge at the end of the first quarter.
Towns McGough kicked a 24-yard field goal for the Tigers, but Drzewiecki’s 21-yard field goal trimmed Auburn’s lead to 17-13.
Drzewiecki missed a 37-yard field-goal attempt and Auburn blew a scoring opportunity when it lost a fumble at the Lobos 15, keeping the score at 17-13 at halftime.
–Field Level Media
New Mexico
Live updates from Auburn football’s game vs. New Mexico, Hank Brown’s first start at QB
Hugh Freeze and the Auburn Tigers (1-1) are looking to bounce back this week as they host the New Mexico Lobos (0-2) for homecoming at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
The game comes on the heels of last week’s loss to Cal and a major shakeup in the Tigers’ starting lineup.
On Friday afternoon, it was reported that Freeze had decided to make a change at quarterback and would be giving redshirt freshman Hank Brown a shot as his first start.
Follow along for updates from Jordan-Hare Stadium:
Pregame
6:00 p.m. — Auburn officially announces Hank Brown as starting QB
Redshirt freshman Hank Brown was announced as Auburn’s starting quarterback — and Auburn’s student section quickly issued its approval:
5:45 p.m. — Official pregame notes from Auburn
Redshirt freshman Hank Brown will start under center for the Tigers, while junior Camden Brown will start at wide receiver in place of Cam Coleman.
5:40 p.m. — Injury notes from warmups
Auburn freshman wide receiver Cam Coleman (shoulder), sophomore kicker Alex McPherson (illness) and senior offensive lineman Izavion Miller (hip) will all miss today’s game vs. New Mexico
New Mexico
New Mexico at Auburn by the numbers: Homecoming date good to Tigers
New Mexico (0-2) at Auburn (1-1)
6:30 p.m. CDT Saturday (ESPN2)
Jordan-Hare Stadium in Auburn
0 Previous games between Auburn and New Mexico.
0 Victories in two games this season for New Mexico. The Lobos opened 2024 with a 35-31 home loss to Montana State on Aug. 24 and fell to Arizona 61-39 on the road on Aug. 31. New Mexico did not play last week.
2 Sacks on back-to-back snaps for Auburn DE Keldric Faulk in last week’s game against California. Faulk became the first Auburn player to record sacks on consecutive snaps since 2003, when Reggie Torbor did it against Ole Miss. Faulk has three of the Tigers’ five sacks this season.
4 Victories without a loss for Auburn in games against Mountain West Conference opponents. The Tigers defeated Wyoming in 2000 and San Jose State in 2014, 2015 and 2022. All the games have been played at Jordan-Hare Stadium.
4 Consecutive seasons with a game against an SEC opponent for New Mexico. The Lobos lost to Texas A&M in 2021 and 2023 and LSU in 2022 to drop their mark against the SEC to 0-8. All the games have been on the road.
7 Victories without a loss for Auburn on Sept. 14. The Tigers have played as many as eight times on only one date without suffering a loss – Sept. 10, when Auburn is 8-0. On Sept. 14, the Tigers have defeated Southern Miss, Ole Miss, Vanderbilt, Mississippi State and Kent State at home, Louisville in Birmingham and Ole Miss in Oxford. New Mexico has a 4-5 record on Sept. 14, including an 0-4 mark on the road.
7 TDs have been scored by the New Mexico offense this season – three TD runs and four TD passes by QB Devon Dampier.
9 Teams in the nation do not have a takeaway this season. Of those nine teams, only one – Temple with nine – has lost more turnovers than Auburn, which has had four of its passes intercepted and three of its fumbles recovered by the opposition.
9 Rushing yards are needed by Auburn RB Jarquez Hunter to become the 15th Auburn player with 2,300.
19 Years since the previous game in which a New Mexico player had at least 200 passing yards and 100 rushing yards, which QB Devon Dampier accomplished in the Lobos’ previous contest. In New Mexico’s 61-39 loss to Arizona on Aug. 31, Dampier completed 24-of-42 passes for 260 yards with three touchdowns and two interceptions and ran for 130 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries. It was the first 200/100 game for the Lobos since QB Kole McKamey accomplished the feat in a 27-24 loss to BYU on Oct. 8, 2005.
19.25 Yards per completion have been averaged by Auburn this season, which ranks second in the nation behind Washington’s 20.31. The Tigers’ 58.2 percent completion percentage ranks 13th in the SEC.
23 Consecutive games with at least one reception for Auburn WR Robert Lewis. All but the most recent two of those games came with Lewis playing for Georgia State. He had 70 receptions for 877 yards and seven touchdowns for the Panthers in 2023.
32 Consecutive homecoming games have been won by Auburn. The Tigers haven’t lost on homecoming since 1991, when Mississippi State spoiled the festivities by taking a 24-17 victory. Auburn has an 85-8-4 record in the homecoming game.
144 Games have been played by Auburn since it was most recently shut out, the second-longest streak in school history. Auburn’s most recent shutout loss came 49-0 to Alabama on Nov. 17, 2012. Auburn’s record scoring streak lasted 149 games, starting with a 55-16 victory over Richmond on Oct. 4, 1980, and ending with a 17-0 loss to Alabama on Nov. 26, 1992. Auburn’s current scoring streak is the 10th-longest in SEC history, and its record streak is the ninth-longest.
193 Games have been played by Auburn since the Tigers most recently had a punt blocked, the longest active streak in the nation. Mississippi State was the most recent opponent to block an Auburn punt in the Tigers’ 49-24 victory on Sept. 12, 2009. New Mexico most recently blocked an opponent’s punt in a 23-20 loss to San Diego State on Oct. 31, 2009. The Lobos have played 172 games since they most recently blocked a punt, the longest active streak in the nation.
FOR MORE OF AL.COM’S COVERAGE OF THE SEC, GO TO OUR SEC PAGE
Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
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