The Eastern New Mexico volleyball team picked up their first two wins of the season in five-set fashion over Purdue-Northwest and Colorado State-Pueblo on the first day of the 2018 Hilltopper Volleyball Classic in Austin, Texas.
The Hounds opened up their morning by falling behind 2-0 to Purdue-Northwest, but rattled off three straight set victories to take the match 3-2 (18-25, 24-26, 25-17, 26-24, 15-4). The Hounds then used that momentum to battle to a 15-11 fifth set victory after alternating set victories with Colorado State-Pueblo to secure their second consecutive 3-2 (25-22, 16-25, 25-21, 22-25, 15-11) match win.
After falling behind two sets in the morning match, Eastern used a balance scoring attack to pad a 22-13 lead in the third set that was closed out in the end with two kills from Jennifer Martinez and Lauryn Bresnahan.
That onslaught of Hound points continued into a must-win fourth set with an 8-3 run to open the set. Purdue-Northwest proved to be a tough out for the Hounds, tying the set back up at 24-24 before a block by Eastern’s Julie Tucker and Jasmine Gannon and then a kill from Gannon provided the 26-24 set victory to force a fifth set.
It wouldn’t take the Hounds long to secure their first win of the season in that fifth set, as they strung together 10 straight points to take a 13-3 lead and never looked back. Gannon and junior Sarah Tuioti-Mariner each posted 10 or more kills, while Bresnahan posted an attack percentage of .350 with nine kills to showcase a balance offensive unit for the Hounds.
Eastern posted team attack percentages of higher than .400 in both the third and fifth sets and limited Purdue-Northwest to a team attack percentage of just .096.
That quality offensive display continued into the afternoon match with Colorado State-Pueblo as the Hounds recorded a 6-0 run at the midway point of the opening set to jump out to a 1-0 lead in the match. Following alternating set victories for each team, the Hounds once again showed their grit and determination that has been a theme early on in the young season in the fifth and final set.
Trailing 9-8 in the final frame, Eastern forced Colorado-Pueblo into committing four errors during a 6-0 run in favor of the Hounds. Head coach Sia Poyer allowed the squad to regroup following the exciting stretch of volleyball with a timeout at the 14-11 mark, and set the scene for Tuioti-Mariner to slam home the winning point of the match to secure two victories for the Hounds on the day.
Gannon led the team with 17 kills in the afternoon match while Tuioti-Mariner posted 11 to continue the duo’s solid start to the 2018 season. Five Greyhounds recorded 10 or more digs for the match while Martinez sent across two aces to finish with 12.5 points.
Eastern will look to finish off the weekend with a 3-0 record tomorrow morning as they take on tournament host St. Edward’s at 9 a.m.
