The Eastern New Mexico volleyball team couldn’t come up with a big upset Friday night as No. 13 Tarleton State defeated the Hounds 3-0 (25-12, 25-12, 25-21).

The Hounds (8-15, 6-9 Lone Star Conference) are in the midst of their toughest road swing this season, taking on three of the top four teams in the LSC this week.
The Texans (22-2, 14-0 LSC) opened up a big lead in the first set, scoring 10 of the first 13 points to hold a seven-point advantage going into the middle portion of the sets. After getting off to a slow start, the Hounds were able to muster a little bit of offense on kills by sophomore outside hitter Jasmine Gannon, freshman right side hitter Taylor Roberts, and senior middle blocker Jennifer Martinez to stay within seven at 13-6.

However, Tarleton State was able to bow out its lead behind a 7-3 run to make it 20-9. After trading blows with a couple of Gannon kills, the Texans went on a 4-1 run to defeat the Hounds 25-12 in the opening set.

Eastern found itself in a similar predicament in set two as TSU opened with a 14-3 run to put the Hounds down by 11 early on. The Hounds started to chip their way back with a 5-3 run on two kills by Lauryn Bresnahan and kills by Gannon and Christelle Kialanda to keep the set within nine at 17-8. Still, the Hounds couldn’t keep the Texans at bay as TSU went on a 7-2 streak to set up game point. Roberts picked up another kill before the end of the set, but the Texans eventually defeated the Hounds 25-12 once again to go up two sets to none.

ENMU got off to a hot start in the third set, scoring four of the first five points featuring an assisted block by Kialanda and Martinez as well as a Rebekah Spencer service ace. After holding onto its lead at 8-6, Eastern couldn’t contain the Texans attack as a 5-0 spurt put TSU ahead by three. The Hounds rallied by scoring four of the next five points on two Martinez kills and a service ace to draw the set even at 13-all.

Despite the comeback, Tarleton State responded with an 8-3 run of their own to reclaim their largest lead of the set at 21-16. ENMU battled back with a 5-2 run behind Martinez and Bresnahan as Martinez tallied a pair of kills, Bresnahan recorded a kill, and the two split an assisted block to keep the deficit to two at 23-21. Unfortunately, the Texans scored the final two points of the set to come away with the 25-21 set win and the sweep.

Kialanda led the offensive attack for the Hounds, finishing with a team-high eight kills on a .238 hitting percentage while Martinez chipped in six kills on a .353 percentage to go with three blocks. Setter Kaitlyn Kluna dished out a team-best 12 assists while Rae Sapiga added 11 off the bench. Defensively, senior libero Alba Ontiveros finished with 17 digs to lead the Hounds backline.

Eastern will close out its challenging road trip tomorrow as the Hounds will travel to San Angelo, Texas for a 1 p.m. match against Angelo State.