Tuesday, November 4, 2014
LAS VEGAS, N.M. – A tightly contested match for the Eastern New Mexico volleyball team did not go their way as they fell to New Mexico Highlands 3-1 (28-26, 26-24, 20-25, 25-23) Tuesday night in Perkins Stadium. Four players reached double-digit kills in the match for the Zias led by senior
Agatha Gibbons and sophomore
Lauren Frye with 12 apiece.
ENMU drops to 12-16 overall while the Cowgirls are now 11-16 and swept the season series over Eastern for the first time since 2006.
In the first set, the Zias jumped out to an 8-4 advantage following back-to-back blocks. NMHU responded with a 13-4 run that was ended on a solo rejection by Gibbons. Trailing 21-17, ENMU took seven of the next nine points to pull to within a point of taking the set.
The next two points went the Cowgirls' way on a kill and service ace. The teams traded the following four points until NMHU recorded their third ace of the set for a 28-26 win.
Set two was tight the whole way with Eastern taking the biggest lead of three twice, the last of which was 13-10. The Zias came within a point of taking the set following a NMHU attack error. The Cowgirls called timeout and came out by winning the final three points to take a 2-0 lead in the contest.
ENMU trailed 17-16 after seeing the score tied nine times and seven lead changes in the third set. Four straight points went the Zias way that began with a kill from sophomore
Courtney Lawson. NMHU responded with a 4-0 run of their own to knot the match at 20-20.
Back-to-back kills by senior
Lindsey Barron and freshman
Brooklyn Biel followed with a service ace from Lawson forced a timeout from the Cowgirls. The 75 second break did not help as NMHU hit into an attack error. Lawson then ended the set with a solo block to force a fourth set.
After being tied though the first 20 points of set four, the Cowgirls used a 5-3 burst to go up 15-13. Four consecutive points went in favor of ENMU to put them up by two. During the quick run, senior
Bree Anna Lucero recorded back-to-back service aces.
NMHU came back to take the lead 20-19 until Gibbons posted her 12th kills of the match. With the Zias up 23-21, the Cowgirls' Talise Babbit had three kills of her match-high 14 kills as NMHU won the final four points of the final set.
Lucero finished with 11 kills and tied her career-high of three service aces while Barron added 11 kills as well. Senior setters
Kennedi Catano and
Karra Day were credited with 26 and 23 assists, respectively.
Defensively, freshman
Brooklyn Biel led the team and matched her season-high of five blocks. Both Gibbons and Lucero had four rejections, including a solo block, each. Freshman
Andrea Aguilar recorded a team-best 16 digs and Lawson was right behind her with 14.
Eastern hit .164 with 56 kills, recorded eight aces and held a 10-6 advantage in blocks. They did hit into six and five more attack and service errors, respectively.
Back home for the first time in six matches, ENMU finishes the regular season with two matches this weekend. First up is Texas A&M-Commerce Friday night at 7 p.m. which will also be Military Appreciation Night. Saturday sees the Zias take on Texas Woman's at 1 p.m. on Senior Day in which the team's five seniors will be honored prior to the match and will be Fan Appreciation Day as well.
For the latest information on Zia volleyball, follow
@ENMUSports on Twitter and visit the official website of ENMU athletics at GoEasternAthletics.com.
