Saturday, October 4, 2014
COMMERCE, TEXAS – Down two sets to none on the road, the Eastern New Mexico volleyball team rallied for a 3-2 (20-25, 18-25, 25-21, 25-15, 16-14) victory over Texas A&M-Commerce Saturday afternoon at Lion Field House. Senior outside hitter
Lindsey Barron recorded a season-high 21 kills with a career-best .487 attack percentage in the Zias' first win in Commerce, Texas since October 11, 1996.
Eastern improves to 8-7 overall and 3-4 in the Lone Star Conference while the Lions see their records fall to 3-14 and 1-7 in conference action. The win snapped a nine-game skid in road LSC matches for the Zias with their last victory coming at Midwestern State (Sept. 24) last season.
Sophomore outside hitter
Courtney Lawson tied the first set 9-9 with one of her three kills in the set. A&M-C used a 7-2 run to take command. Both teams had 15 kills but the Lions hit .310 to Eastern's .209.
Back-to-back attack errors by A&M-C provided the Zias with a 9-7 advantage in the second. A 15-2 burst from the Lions handed them the set and a 2-0 lead in the match. Amy Davault of A&M-C recorded more kills (10) in the set than ENMU did as a team (8).
After jumping out to a 5-3 lead following a kill by senior middle blocker
Agatha Gibbons, the Lions roared back to win nine of the next 13 points for a three-point advantage. A&M-C maintained a three-point advantage until five straight points by the Zias put them ahead 18-16. During the run, Lawson had two kills, sophomore right side hitter
Lauren Frye and senior middle blocker
Bree Anna Lucero added a kill apiece and sophomore
Lindsay Bost recorded a service ace.
The lead was cut to one following a kill by A&M-C's Taryn Driver. ENMU though took six of the final nine points to win the set, capped off by consecutive kills from Barron and Gibbons.
Eastern dominated the fourth set as they hit .250 with nine kills and recorded four blocks. They held the Lions to a -.024 attack percentage with Davault being the only player record a positive hitting percentage.
A&M-C was in command of the fifth set nearly the entire way and led 14-9. The Zias responded with an incredible rally as they won the final seven points. Lawson had two kills, Frye added another, Bost recorded her fourth and final service ace of the match and Frye and Lucero teamed up for a block during the run.
Lawson finished with 15 kills and 18 digs for her second double-double of the season while Gibbons matched her career-high of 12 kills. Senior setters
Kennedi Catano and
Karra Day had 29 and 28 assists, respectively.
Defensively, Bost set a new career-best with 25 digs. Frye, Gibbons and Lucero all finished with four blocks apiece as well.
ENMU finished the match with 62 kills on 60 assists and a .254 attack percentage. At the service line, they had nine aces to five by the Lions. Nine players combined to account for the squad's 78 digs.
Davault recorded a double-double of 28 kills and 16 digs and a team-high .329 attack percentage. Neka Nelson and Driver added 15 and 11 kills, respectively. Finishing with 58 assists was Courtney Tate while Lacie Jessup had 24 digs and Ashley Mireles posted 17 digs. Both Sydney Reyes and Nelson had five blocks each.
The Lions finished the match hitting .229 with 64 kills on 61 assists. Defensively they had 77 digs and eight total blocks as one was a solo rejection from Tate.
Next up for the Zias is a home match with in-state rival New Mexico Highlands at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. This will be the second of three matches against the Cowgirls this year.
For the latest information on Zia volleyball, follow
@ENMUSports on Twitter and visit the official website of ENMU athletics at GoEasternAthletics.com.
