Women's Volleyball | 9/10/2015 11:02:00 AM

PORTALES, N.M. — The Eastern New Mexico University women's volleyball team will head to Colorado this weekend to participate in their second tournament of the year at the Steel & Silver Classic after going 2-2 at the Lady Buff Classic in Canyon, Texas, the previous weekend.

STEEL & SILVER CLASSIC

The tournament is jointly hosted by the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and Colorado State University-Pueblo.  The Greyhounds lost their season opener against CSUP and will only be facing the Colorado Springs Mountain Lions during the tournament.

The three other games slated at the tournament are against St. Edwards University, Western Colorado State and Missouri Western State University.  Since 2009 ENMU has gone 0-2, 1-1 and 0-1 against those teams, respectively.  The Greyhounds have split 1-1 with Colorado Springs in that time.

Colorado Springs holds a 2-3 record, Western State is 2-4, Missouri Western is 2-2 and SEU comes in with the only winning record at 3-2.  Both Missouri Western and SEU had impressive SEASONS IN 2014, ending at 22-8 and 19-8. 

ENMU will play its first match against SEU Friday, Sept. 11, at 11:30 a.m.  Their first two matches will be played at CSUP, with the last two to be played at Colorado Springs.

LADY BUFF CLASSIC RECAP

Going 2-2 in the tournament, the Greyhounds took the spotlight when they beat Lubbock Christian University in five sets.  LCU has been a regional powerhouse in recent years and the loss was their only one at the tournament.

ENMU volleyball head coach Sia Poyer said, "LCU is one of the top teams in the region and earning a win against them is huge and hopefully will give us some confidence.  LCU went 3-1 in the tournament, so it's a good feeling being the only team that handed LCU a loss."

Lauren Frye had an outstanding weekend, recording 66 kills over four games.  She set a new single-game career high with 23 kills against LCU. 

"Lauren tends to stand out because she's athletic and very dynamic.  She's always hit the ball with a lot of power, even since she was a freshman, but the big difference is she is a lot more efficient now [Frye had a .328 hitting percentage after four matches]," said Poyer.

Courtney Lawson also had a superb tournament, recording 46 kills, 42 digs and 110 serving receptions with an incredible .955 reception percentage.  Poyer said of Lawson, "Courtney is the only player that plays all six rotations and it's because she is not only very good but very capable.  I always have high expectations for Courtney and she has improved her all-around game this season."