PORTALES, N.M. – The Eastern New Mexico volleyball team dropped a heartbreaking 3-2 (25-19, 24-26, 25-20, 18-25, 13-15) match to Midwestern State Saturday afternoon at Greyhound Arena.

After falling behind 3-1 in the first set, the Hounds (8-13, 6-7 Lone Star Conference) put together a six-point rally fueled by an assisted block by Christelle Kialanda and Jasmine Gannon to draw the match back even followed by a strong Gannon kill down the left sideline to grab a four-point lead. After raising the lead to five at 11-6, MSU (4-17, 6-7 LSC) rattled off six straight to reclaim the lead.

Trailing 14-13, Eastern responded with four straight off of a pair of kills by Gannon and finished off on a strong Jennifer Martinez kill near the left sideline to retake a three-point advantage and forcing MSU to call a timeout. The Mustangs tallied a couple of points to draw the match back to one at 17-16, but the Hounds would allow MSU to climb no closer. Eastern closed out the set with an 8-3 run as a Julie Tucker kill set up game point at 24-18 and a few plays later, Jaedynn Devoux sent a monster kill down the middle to give the Hounds the 25-19 set one win.

The Greyhounds were assertive at the start of the second set, scoring the first nine points and then following it up with a 7-0 run following an MSU point to claim a 17-1 advantage. Eastern stretched its lead to as much as 19 at 22-3 before the Mustangs made an improbable run. MSU outscored the Hounds 23-2 to close out the set, scoring the final 10 points of the set to steal set two, 26-24.

With the third set tied at 4-all, Eastern pulled ahead on three consecutive kills by Gannon to grab a 7-4 lead. After MSU drew the edge back to within two at 9-7, Eastern scored four of the next five on kills by Tucker, Lauryn Bresnahan, Gannon, and Kialanda to claim its largest lead of the set at 13-8. Later in the set, the Mustangs rallied back again.

With the score 19-15 in favor of Eastern, MSU rattled off three-straight to cut it to a one-point Hounds lead, forcing head coach Sia Poyer to call a timeout. Eastern played stellar volleyball coming out of the break, scoring six of the final eight points as a Martinez kill made game point at 24-20 and a Devoux service ace closed out set three, swinging momentum back in-favor of the Greyhounds.

In the early portion of the fourth set, Midwestern State outscored Eastern 7-3 to grab the advantage, forcing the Hounds to call a timeout to regroup. The Hounds recorded three of the next four points on a pair of kills by Tucker, a Martinez kill, and an Ontiveros service ace to cut the deficit to 8-7. The Mustangs reclaimed its lead by scoring five of the next seven points, making it 13-9, but the Hounds continued to battle back with another three-point rally on a pair of blocks and a Martinez kill to cut the deficit back to one. However, the Hounds dig into the deficit any further as MSU held on to win 25-18.

The dramatic fifth set was a back and forth affair. After MSU claimed the opening point of the set, Eastern rattled off three of the next four on two kills by Martinez and a kill by Gannon. After falling behind once again 6-4, the Hounds rattled off four of the next five points featuring kills by Gannon, Bresnahan, and Tucker to send Eastern up 8-7.

After the side switch, the Mustangs put together a three-point rally to claim a 10-8 advantage, forcing an ENMU timeout. The Greyhounds continued to battle back, scoring five of the next eight points to tie the set up at 13-all, forcing an MSU timeout. Unfortunately, the Mustangs scored the final two points to pull off the upset.

Martinez led the ENMU attack with 12 kills on a .333 attack percentage. Gannon also finished the match with 12 kills while Kialanda and Tucker each finished with 11 kills apiece. Senior setter Kaitlyn Kluna finished with a double-double, dishing out 30 assists to go with 15 digs. The 30-assist performance was the second-most in her Greyhound career after tallying 31 back on Nov. 4, 2016 against Texas Woman's and the 15 digs tied her career-high. Ontiveros led the defensive backline with 20 digs and Rebekah Spencer added 16 digs.

Between the second and third sets of today's match, ENMU honored the members of its 1993 Lone Star Conference Championship team and after the completion of the first match, the Hounds hosted it's annual alumni match.

The Greyhounds will return to the road next week for three matches, starting on Tuesday as ENMU will be in Canyon, Texas for a 5 p.m. match against West Texas A&M.