DENTON, Texas – The Eastern New Mexico volleyball team struggled to find an offensive rhythm Friday night in Lone Star Conference play as the Hounds fell to Texas Woman's 3-0 (25-13, 25-18, 25-18).

After both teams traded points to bring the match to a 3-3 draw in the first set, the Pioneers (12-7, 4-5 LSC) went on a 10-4 run to open up a six-point point edge. The Hounds (7-11, 5-5 LSC) battled back by taking four of the next five points on kills by Jennifer Martinez and Christelle Kialanda, as well as a Kaitlyn Kluna service ace to make it 14-11. However, TWU was able to answer the Eastern rally by going on a 10-2 run to eventually win the first set by a score of 25-16.

The Pioneers opened the second set much like they did the first, jumping out to an early 13-4 lead, forcing Hounds head coach Sia Poyer to call a timeout to get the team to regroup. After TWU stretched its lead to 10 at 16-6, the Hounds put together a 7-2 rally on a pair of kills by Jasmine Gannon and a service ace by Rae Sapiga to cut the deficit to five. However, the Greyhounds could climb no closer as Texas Woman's held on to win the set, 25-18.

In the third set, the Hounds were able to get off to a strong start by grabbing an early 5-3 edge off of kills by Martinez and Gannon. However, it wouldn't take long for the Pioneers to rally as TWU scored the next five points to force the Hounds to call a timeout. During the midway portion of the set, Eastern kept pace with TWU as a pair of kills by Martinez and a kill apiece from Gannon and Kialanda allowed the Pioneers to only hold a two-point advantage at 14-12. Unfortunately, Texas Woman's put together another strong push, scoring nine of the next 12 points to expand its lead to eight. The Hounds were unable to muster another rally as the Pioneers went on to win set three by a score of 25-18 to close out the match.

The Hounds offensive efforts were led by Gannon with a team-high eight kills and Martinez added six kills on a .444 attack percentage. Kluna dished out a team-high 12 assists while senior defensive specialist Alba Ontiveros led the Hounds back line with 18 digs, a season-best in a three-set match.

The Greyhounds will look to spring a big upset tomorrow as Eastern will travel to Commerce, Texas to take on No. 21 Texas A&M-Commerce. The match is slated for a 1 p.m. start.