STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The Eastern New Mexico volleyball team saw its season come to an end Thursday night in the quarterfinal round of the Lone Star Conference Tournament as the eighth-seeded Hounds fell to the top-seeded and nationally 12th-ranked Tarleton State 3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-10).
The TexAnns (28-3) scored the first six points of the opening set to claim the early advantage. After TSU stretched its lead to seven at 10-3, the Hounds (9-20) put together a strong 6-2 run off a pair of Jasmine Gannon kills and a service ace to go with aces from Rae Sapiga and Alba Ontiveros to cut the deficit to just three at 12-9.
Tarleton State answered the Greyhounds run with a four-point streak of their own to stretch its lead back to 16-9. The closest Eastern could cut the lead to five at 17-12 as the TexAnns went on an 8-2 run to close out the 25-15 set one win.
With an early 4-3 edge in the second set, the TexAnns utilized a four-point run to stretch its advantage to five. After TSU expanded its lead to six at 10-4, the Greyhounds started battling back by scoring seven of the next 11 points off six kills, two by Jaedynn Devoux and Christelle Kialanda, as well as one apiece for Gannon, and Lauryn Bresnahan to make it a 14-11 match. However, the Hounds could not stop the TexAnns as TSU ended the second set with an 11-4 run to win set two, 25-15.
Eastern struggled against Tarleton State early in the third set as the TexAnns scored the first 11 points. The Hounds eventually found an offensive rhythm, stringing together a 7-1 run that included five unanswered off a pair of Gannon kills and a kill by Taylor Roberts to cut the deficit to 12-7.
However, Tarleton State would not let the Greyhounds climb any closer as the TexAnns closed out the final set with a 13-3 run to end set three at 25-10.
Gannon, the All-LSC First Team selection, was outstanding for the Hounds in her final match of 2018, recording a double-double with 13 kills on a .265 attack percentage to go with 11 digs.
In her final match in a Greyhounds uniform, senior setter Kaitlyn Kluna finished just one dig shy of a double-double with 12 assists and nine digs. Kluna finishes her four-year Greyhounds career with 1731 assists, the eighth-most by a single setting in the history of the program.
Ontiveros, the senior libero also put together a strong performance, recording a team-leading 13 digs. Ontiveros finishes her season with 538 digs, moving her ahead of Hayley Couch’s mark of 537 set in 2012 for the ninth-most digs in a single season at Eastern New Mexico.
