The Eastern New Mexico volleyball team took no. 21 Texas A&M-Commerce down to the wire on Friday night inside Greyhound Arena, but eventually fell by a final score of 3-2 (29-31, 25-22, 21-25, 25-23, 10-15).
The Hounds (9-18, 7-12 LSC) hold a one-game advantage over Western New Mexico with a conference record of 7-12 and can clinch a spot in the Lone Star Conference tournament on Saturday afternoon with a win over Texas Woman’s. Sophomore Jasmine Gannon led the way for Eastern with 18 kills for the match on a night in which the Hounds posted an attack percentage of .114 as a team.
Eastern New Mexico limited a high-octane Texas A&M-Commerce (24-5, 16-3 LSC) offense to an attack percentage of just .188, but couldn’t capitalize on a 5-1 advantage to open the fifth and final set. The Hounds continually battled back throughout the match, coming from an 8-3 deficit in the opening set to force Commerce to post 31 points in order to take the set victory, and then fought back from an 8-0 start for the Lions in the fourth set to come back and win 25-23.
The Hounds rattled of a 4-1 run in the late stages of the second set to clinch the 25-22 victory and square the match at 1-1 after the aforementioned 31-29 victory for the Lions in set number one. The third set once again remained close moving into the final stages as the score remained locked at 20-20 before the Hounds conceded a 5-1 run and fell behind 2-1 in the match.
Right when it looked like Texas A&M-Commerce was going to cruise away with the victory after jumping out to an 8-0 lead in the fourth, Eastern continued to chip away at the sizeable advantage for the Lions and eventually made it a 14-10 game with the Lions narrowly hanging onto the lead. The Hounds would then string together an 8-1 run to take the advantage for the first time in the set and made things interesting heading into the later stages of the match.
Despite eventually capitalizing on the huge run in the fourth and building a 5-1 lead in the deciding set, Eastern was unable to pull off the upset of their nationally-ranked opponent.
Senior Alba Ontiveros led the way on the defensive side of the ball for Eastern with 29 kills and also totaled four assists. Gannon registered a double-double with 15 kills to go along with her 18 kills.
Junior Lauryn Bresnahan had an outstanding night as well, leading the team with an attack percentage of .444. She totaled nine kills on just 18 swings and also totaled four blocks on the evening.
Eastern New Mexico will square off with Texas Woman’s in the regular season finale tomorrow afternoon at 12 p.m. inside Greyhound Arena. Kaitlyn Kluna, Desiray Anderson, Alba Ontiveros and Jennifer Martinez will all be recognized for their outstanding careers following the completion of the match.
