Tuesday, October 7, 2014
PORTALES, N.M. – Senior middle blocker
Agatha Gibbons (Suva, Fiji/New Mexico Military Institute) set a career-high with 14 kills Tuesday night. That was not enough as the Eastern New Mexico volleyball team fell to in-state rival New Mexico Highlands 3-1 (21-25, 25-23, 21-25, 19-25) in Greyhound Arena. Gibbons also paced the Zias with a .320 attack percentage and four blocks.
ENMU fall to 8-8 on the season while the Cowgirls are now 7-11 and take the season series for the first time since 2008.
After falling behind after the first six points in the first set, the Zias managed to tie the score at 7-7 on a block by senior middle blocker
Bree Anna Lucero (Fort Sumner, N.M./Fort Sumner HS) and freshman outside hitter
Brooklyn Biel (Laveen, Ariz./Betty H. Fairfax HS). Sophomore outside hitter
Courtney Lawson (Rio Rancho, N.M./V. Sue Cleveland HS) knotted the game 8-8 with a kill but three quick points went to NMHU to put them in the lead.
The closest Eastern would get the rest of the way was 21-20 on a kill from Gibbons.
ENMU jumped out to a 7-3 advantage, their largest of the match, after back-to-back kills by Gibbons. With the Zias leading 9-6, the Cowgirls went on a 7-1 run capped off by consecutive kills from Katie Trammel.
Falling behind by four, Eastern fought back to tie the set 20-20. After a kill by NMHU's Alicia Moreno, ENMU fought back and took a one-point lead after kills from senior outside hitter
Lindsey Barron (Mandeville, La./Central Arkansas), junior right side hitter
Talaitupu Faumui (West Jordan, Utah/Western Texas College) and Lawson.
Gibbons ended the set with a kill on the team's second set point opportunity.
Over the final two sets, the Cowgirls lead almost the entire time except for when the Zias held a 1-0 advantage in the fourth set.
Lawson recorded her second straight double-double with 12 kills and 13 digs while hitting .281. Senior setter
Karra Day (Escondido, Calif./New Mexico Military Institute) was credited with a team-high 24 assists while fellow classmate and setter
Kennedi Catano (Amarillo, Texas/Tascosa HS) added 20.
Defensively, sophomore libero
Lindsay Bost (Rio Rancho, N.M./V. Sue Cleveland HS) had a match-high 17 digs. Barron was the only other Zia with multiple blocks on the night with three.
Trammel recorded 14 kills and a match-best .722 attack percentage to pace NMHU. Moreno contributed 12 kills on a .308 attack percentage with zero errors. Shayli Schulz dished out 40 assists and Tianna Matthews posted a match-high five blocks.
ENMU had a 54-51 advantage in kills but had 32 attack errors to only 15 by the Cowgirls. Only nine of the Zias' errors were because of a block.
Next for Eastern is a trip to Midwestern State on Friday at 6 p.m. MT followed by a quick drive over to Cameron for a 1 p.m. MT match Saturday afternoon.
For the latest information on Zia volleyball, follow
@ENMUSports on Twitter and visit the official website of ENMU athletics at GoEasternAthletics.com.
