The Eastern New Mexico volleyball team continued their stretch of solid play with a 3-0 victory over UT-Permian Basin to win their third straight match.
The Hounds have now recorded back-to-back sweeps and sit in solo third place in the conference with a record of 5-3. Three Eastern players recorded 10 or more kills in the three set match with senior Jennifer Martinez and sophomore Jasmine Gannon recording 11 kills and freshman Jaedynn Devoux recording 10.
Eastern New Mexico dominated in all facets of the match, recording 45 kills to the Falcon’s 19 and limited UT-Permian Basin to a -.045 team hitting percentage for the match. The Hounds never conceded more than 20 points in a set and recorded a team hitting percentage of .260.
After falling behind in the opening set 11-9, the Hounds rattled off eight straight points to build a 17-11 lead. The Hounds extended their lead to 10 thanks to a service ace from Martinez and never looked back, cruising to a 25-15 opening set victory. Eastern surrendered just four kills in the opening set and forced the Falcons into committing 10 errors.
The second set was all Greyhounds as they produced their highest team hitting percentage of any set in the match with a .385 mark. The Hounds recorded 15 kills and six blocks in the set to continue to maintain control of the match over the Falcons.
An 8-1 run at the 7-7 mark of the set broke the advantage wide open for Eastern New Mexico as UTPB could narrow the deficit to just four points the rest of the way through.
The Hounds took awhile to get going in the third and final set as the score remained square 12-12 midway through the set. A 7-2 run in favor of Eastern helped establish a 19-14 lead before three more kills from Martinez and a final blow from sophomore Julie Tucker gave the Hounds a 25-19 victory.
Martinez hit .421 throughout the match to finish off an outstanding weekend for the senior. Fellow seniors Alba Ontiveros and Kaitlyn Kluna each had quality afternoons with 16 digs for Ontiveros and 26 assists for Kluna.
The Eastern New Mexico volleyball team will look to continue their outstanding play as of late with a non-conference road match up against St. Mary’s on Friday, Sept. 28 at 2 p
