SAN ANTONIO, Texas – The Eastern New Mexico volleyball team dropped its first match of the weekend by a final score of 3-0 (21-25, 20-25, 19-25) against St. Mary’s Friday night.
The Hounds fell in a back-and-forth first set that saw four lead changes and four ties before St. Mary’s rattled off six straight points and rode the momentum for the rest of the match. Junior middle blocker Julie Tucker finished with a season-best in points (12) and kills (9) to go along with a match-high six blocks.
Eastern was able to close the deficit late in the first set, pushing the score to 20-21 in favor of the Rattlers but allowed four of the last five points, dropping the first frame 21-25.
The second set remained tight all the way to the 15-15 mark before St. Mary’s scored three consecutive points and eventually took the frame 20-25.
The Hounds seemed to find some offensive success in the final set jumping out to a 14-11 advantage, as senior outside hitter Sarah Tuioti-Mariner hammered down one of her eight kills. Eastern’s momentum was thwarted by two late runs from the home team as St. Mary’s took the set 25-19.
Redshirt-sophomore M’Lee Vinson turned in a nice game defensively as she finished with a match-high 14 digs. The Hounds struggled to find an offensive rhythm as they finished with a team attacking percentage of .098.
The Hounds will look to capture their first LSC victory when they face St. Edwards Saturday at noon in Austin, Texas.
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