The Eastern New Mexico volleyball team managed to gain an early lead, but ultimately dropped a 3-1 (25-23, 21-25, 16-25, 25-27) match at Texas A&M-Kingsville in Lone Star Conference Play on Saturday afternoon.
In the first set, the Javelinas jumped out to a hot start right out of the gate, gaining a 13-6 lead before the Hounds strung together a massive rally. The Hounds went on a 4-0 run that included a Jasmine Gannon kill as well as a Jennifer Martinez and Christelle Kialanda assisted block to cut the deficit to just three.
Eastern continued to battle back, taking six of the next nine points that featured a pair of Gannon kills, a Rae Sapiga service ace, as well as a Lauryn Bresnahan and Julie Tucker assisted block to tie the match up at 16-all. The Hounds continued to battle point-for-point until a Bresnahan kill at the net on an immediate over tied the match up at 23.
Tucker made it set point on the following play as her kill deflected out-of-bounds off the TAMUK blockers and Eastern recorded their third consecutive point on an error to come away with the 25-23 set one win.
The Javelinas jumped out to a big lead midway through the second set, as they held as large as a seven point lead at 16-9. Yet again, the Hounds rallied as they rattled off four straight points on kills by Martinez and Jaedynn Devoux as well as a service ace by Rebekah Spencer, cutting the deficit to just three at 16-13. After TAMUK stretched their lead back to 20-15, the Hounds rallied yet again, scoring five consecutive points as Gannon, Devoux, and Tucker each tallied a kill to draw the set even at 20. Unfortunately, the Javelinas were able to mount a rally of their own, scoring five of the next six points to come away with the set, 25-21.
The Hounds hung with the Javelinas midway through the first set as neither team could mount larger than a two-point lead as TAMUK held a 12-11 lead, but the Javelinas put together a strong run in the latter half. Kingsville outscored Eastern 13-5, including a 6-0 run to close out the set.
The Greyhounds were able to gain early control in the fourth set. With the match drawn even at six, ENMU rattled off four straight points, coming off of kills by Gannon and Tucker to take a 10-6 lead. The Javelinas came back on Eastern, outscoring the Hounds 9-4 to take the lead at 15-14.
As the teams traded points to draw the match even at 17, Eastern tallied three straight points to grab a 20-17 lead, forcing TAMUK to call a timeout. Following the timeout, the Greyhounds were able to hold the three-point lead as the two teams exchanged points up until Kialanda tapped a kill just out of the reach of the Javelinas defense to make it 23-20. Unfortunately, the Javelinas had one more strong push as they scored seven of the next 10 points, taking the set 27-25 and the match.
Gannon and Martinez led the Greyhounds offense in the match with 10 kills apiece, Kaitlyn Kluna finished with a team-high 21 assists and Olivia Ontiveros led the defensive effort with 19 digs.
The Hounds will look to bounce back in Lone Star Conference play next week as Eastern will travel to Denton, Texas to take on Texas Woman’s University at 6 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 5.
