WICHITA FALLS, Texas – The Eastern New Mexico volleyball team defeated Midwestern State by a final score of 3-0 (27-25, 25-17, 25-21) to secure a victory in the Lone Star Conference opener for both teams.

Eastern New Mexico (3-5, 1-0 LSC) battled to a hard fought 27-25 victory in the opening set and then put together a 16-8 advantage in the second set to put the early pressure on Midwestern (2-7, 0-1 LSC). The Hounds then strung together four consecutive points at the end of the third and final set to complete the sweep and pick up the road win.

Sophomore Jasmine Gannon continued to be a force on the offensive attack for Eastern, totaling 15 kills to lead the way for the Hounds. Junior Sarah Tuioti-Mariner led the team with an attack percentage of .250 while registering 10 kills on 28 total attacks. Eastern forced the Mustangs into 28 total errors throughout the match and put together three or more point runs to close out each of the three sets.

Eastern was able to rebound after a slow start in the opening set and battled their way back into the set following a 7-3 early deficit. Midwestern had the Hounds down to the final point with a 24-23 advantage, but conceding three straight kills to Gannon, Tuioti-Mariner and Lauryn Bresnahan to lose the first set 27-25.

Bresnahan finished the match with three kills and four digs.

Midwestern committed five straight errors to assist the Hounds in building the aforementioned 16-8 lead midway through the second set, and could narrowed the lead to just five before an ace from senior Kaitlyn Kluna and a block from Tuioti-Mariner and senior Jennifer Martinez pushed the Hounds to a set victory away from their first sweep of the season.

Eastern scored the first point of the third match and never conceded the lead the rest of the way in the third and final set, once again stringing together multiple points to close out the set and match in style. Head coach Sia Poyer's squad posted a match-high .250 team hitting percentage in the third and final set to close the match with authority.

Kluna posted a double-double with 17 assists and 10 digs, while also contributing two service aces to the effort. Freshman Rae Sapiga nearly missed out on double-double numbers with 15 assists and nine digs, while Tuoiti-Mariner continued to showcase her multi-faceted game with 10 digs to go along with double-digit kills.

The Hounds will wrap the opening weekend of conference play tomorrow afternoon with a match set for 1 p.m. against Cameron in Lawton, Okla.