The Eastern New Mexico volleyball program opened the Homecoming slate with a dominant 3-0 (25-18, 25-22, 25-13) sweep against Cameron Friday evening at Greyhound Arena.
In the opening set tied at 3-all, Eastern (8-12, 6-6 Lone Star Conference)pulled ahead with four straight points on kills by Julie Tucker and Jasmine Gannon as well as a Lauryn Bresnahan kill dropped just inside the backline to make it a 7-3 lead. ENMU stretched the lead to seven during the midway point on a block by Jennifer Martinez and Christelle Kialanda to make it 13-6. After cutting the lead back to five, the Hounds scored back-to-back points capped off on a Kialanda kill blocked out of bounds, making it 16-9 and forcing the Aggies (0-20, 0-12 LSC) to call a timeout.
After stretching the lead to nine at 18-9, Cameron rallied back with a 5-1 run to force Hounds Head Coach Sia Poyer to call a timeout. The Aggies took the first point coming out of the timeout to make it 21-18, but the Hounds would let Cameron climb no closer as Eastern ended the set on a 4-0 run to win set one 25-18.
Eastern jumped out to a hot start in set two, grabbing a 6-3 edge that was capped off on a kill by Gannon. The Aggies battled back by scoring three straight to tie the set up at 6-all, forcing a Greyhounds to call a timeout. Following the timeout, the Hounds rattled off four straight on a Jaedynn Devoux kill, a pair of Jennifer Martinez blocks and a Bresnahan kill, stretching the lead back to 10-6. However, the Aggies responded by taking five of the next seven points, cutting the Hounds lead to one. Eastern built its lead back up to five with 4-0 run featuring a pair of strong Gannon kills to make it 16-11, forcing CU to take its first timeout of the set.
After maintaining a five-point lead at 19-14, Cameron put together a strong rally, scoring the next five points to tie the set up at 19-all. After trading the next four points, Eastern finished the set strong with a 4-1 run, capped off on a kill by Martinez on a tap to the open middle to take set two by a score of 25-21.
In set three, the Hounds and Aggies were deadlocked a four apiece when the Hounds pulled ahead with a 7-2 run that featured a kill apiece for Gannon and Devoux as well as a service ace for Alba Ontiveros and Rae Sapiga, grabbing an 11-6 advantage. A 6-3 run by Cameron cut the Eastern lead to 14-12, but that would be the closest the Aggies would get to catching the Greyhounds.
The Hounds ran away from CU in the final half of the set as Eastern closed out with a dominating 11-1 run, which included a stretch of 10 unanswered points. Six of the final 11 points scored by the Hounds came off of kills as Tucker and Desiray Anderson each tallied a pair of kills while Gannon and Kialanda each chipped in a kill during the phenomenal run.
ENMU dominated offensively and defensively in this match. The Hounds finished the match with 44 kills on a .262 attack percentage while limiting the Aggies to just 26 kills on a .055 attack percentage, the third-lowest attack percentage Eastern had held an opponent to all season.
Gannon put together one of her best performances in her Greyhounds career, finishing the match with 16 kills on a .429 attack percentage with a team-high eight digs on the defensive end. Her 16-kill performance set a new career-high for kills in a three-set match, breaking the previous best of 13 set back on Sept. 13 against Tarleton State.
Devoux, Kialanda, and Tucker all rounded out the balanced Hounds with each finishing with six kills apiece. Kaitlyn Kluna dished out a team-high 21 assists while Sapiga added 17 to go along with seven digs.
It was a special night for Greyhounds volleyball. Not only did the Hounds pick up the win, but ENMU recognized Lauren Frye and Jennifer Goble-Poyer, the only two All-Americans in the history of the ENMU volleyball program between the second and third sets of tonight’s match.
The Hounds will return the court tomorrow for an 12 p.m. match against Midwestern State inside Greyhound Arena. Eastern will honor the 1993 Lone Star Conference Championship team between the second and third sets and the annual alumni match will immediately follow the completion of the match.
