Saturday, November 8, 2014
PORTALES, N.M. – After honoring seniors
Lindsey Barron,
Kennedi Catano,
Karra Day,
Agatha Gibbons and
Bree Anna Lucero prior to the match, the Eastern New Mexico volleyball team shocked Texas Woman's Saturday afternoon in Greyhound Arena 3-2 (17-25, 27-25, 25-21, 18-25, 15-12). The victory was the first for the Zias over the Pioneers since Sept. 16, 2005 to snap a 12-match winless streak and first at home since Nov. 16, 1996. Eastern also clinched the sixth seed in the upcoming Lone Star Conference Tournament.
The Zias improve to 13-17 overall and 5-11 in conference action while TWU finishes the regular season at 18-9 and 11-5 in the LSC.
In the first set, ENMU fell behind 7-2 but rallied to tie the score 9-9 after three straight kills from sophomore
Courtney Lawson, freshman
Brooklyn Biel and Lucero along with a Pioneer attack error. TWU responded with a 9-3 run to take control of the set and a 1-0 lead.
The Pioneers seemed to be on their way to an easy set two win after going up 5-2. The Zias rallied for four straight points capped off by a kill by Gibbons. TWU retook the lead following a 10-4 run.
Trailing 22-17, Eastern had four consecutive points go their way as Lawson recorded a service ace and a kill while Lucero contributed a kill as well. Back-to-back points went to the Pioneers to give them set point. A kill by Barron started a 5-1 burst to close out the set for ENMU.
Set three was close the entire way with the last of nine tied scores coming at 21-21. Barron then recorded a kill while Biel and Gibbons teamed up for a block. After a timeout by TWU, Lawson responded with a kill and Gibbons followed up with her third kill in the set to give the Zias a 2-1 advantage in the contest.
In the fourth set, TWU jumped out to a 5-1 lead and never looked backed. They held the lead the entire way while hitting .209 with 14 kills and recording four blocks. Eastern was held to a .080 hitting percentage with 12 kills and just one rejection.
With the score tied at 3-3, the Zias scored three straight points thanks to two Pioneer attack errors and a kill by Frye. TWU called timeout but it didn't help as three of the next four points also went in favor of ENMU.
The Pioneers closed Eastern's lead to 13-12 after a solo block by Hillary Shaffer. Gibbons answered back with a kill to give the Zias match point. Following TWU's final timeout of the match, they hit into an attack error to give ENMU the five-set victory.
Gibbons led the Zias with 16 kills and eight blocks while Lucero added 11 kills and three rejections, including the team's lone solo block. Lucero also paced the team with a .286 attack percentage.
Both Catano and Lawson recorded double-doubles on the afternoon, their 25th and 16th of their careers respectively. Catano finished with 16 assists and 12 digs while Lawson had 10 kills and a career-high tying 23 digs.
Day matched her season-high of 28 assists. Freshman
Andrea Aguilar was also credited with a season-high seven assists and finished with 20 digs. Ending the afternoon with 11 digs as well was sophomore
Lindsay Bost.
Sophomore
Lauren Frye had five blocks to tie her season-best while recording seven kills as well. Barron ended her regular season career with a nine kill, six dig and two block performance.
Four players had double-digit kills for TWU led by Jaqueline Santos' 18. Mallory Kuechle finished with a double-double of 14 kills and 21 digs while Elizabeth Pennington added 11 kills. Shaffer had 13 kills and a match-high .323 attack percentage. Joey Redwine was credited with 55 of the team's 60 assists.
Defensively, Morgan Wilson had a match-best 27 digs. Shaffer recorded eight blocks to pace the squad. Briley Cole and Santos finished with six and five rejections, respectively.
Next up for the Zias is the LSC Tournament that starts Thursday in The Box on the campus of West Texas A&M. ENMU will play Angelo State, the third seed, at a time to be announced.
For the latest information on Zia volleyball, follow
@ENMUSports on Twitter and visit the official website of ENMU athletics at GoEasternAthletics.com.
