PORTALES, N.M. – After clinching the final spot in the Lone Star Conference Tournament last week, the Eastern New Mexico volleyball team will be facing off against the top seed and nationally 12th-ranked Tarleton State in the quarterfinal round at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday in Stephenville, Texas.
LAST TIME OUT
The Hounds dropped a pair of hard-fought five-set matches last week, first falling 3-2 (29-31, 25-22, 21-25, 25-23, 10-15) to No. 21 Texas A&M-Commerce on Friday before dropping another 3-2 (25-16, 21-25, 25-11, 19-25, 12-15) heartbreaker to Texas Woman’s on Saturday.
Against the Lions, Eastern battled back from a late four-point deficit in the opening set to force extra points. With the Hounds holding a 29-28 lead, TAMUC tallied the final three points to come away with the set one win. ENMU came back to win set two 25-22 before dropping the third set 25-21, forcing the Hounds into must-win situation in set four. The Greyhounds rallied from an 8-0 deficit early to eventually come away with a hard-fought 25-23 win to force a fifth set.
The Hounds ran into trouble in the fifth set after grabbing an early 5-1 lead, as the Lions went on a 7-0 run to claim an 8-5 lead. A Taylor Roberts kill snapped the run, but Commerce strung together another strong run, scoring five unanswered to take its largest lead of the set at 13-6. ENMU tried to battle back, scoring four of the next five points, but the Hounds couldn’t prevent the Lions from scoring the final point.
The short-handed Hounds got some strong production from sophomore outside hitter Jasmine Gannon, who finished the match with 21.5 points off 18 kills, three service aces and a block assist to go with 15 digs. On the defensive end, senior libero Alba Ontiveros recorded 29 digs while senior setter Kaitlyn Kluna led the passing attack with 26 assists.
In the Texas Woman’s match, the Hounds got off to a strong start, taking set one 25-16 after stringing together 10 unanswered points during the midway portion of the set. After dropping the second set by a score of 25-21, Eastern battled back with a dominant third set, limiting the Pioneers to just 11 points on a -.103 attack percentage. However, TWU fought back to win the fourth and fifth sets to hand Eastern its eighth fifth-set loss of the season.
Gannon once again recorded a double-double with 12 kills and 12 digs while junior middle blocker Christelle Kialanda finished the match with 12.5 points off of six kills, two service aces, and a career-high seven total blocks. Once again, the defensive efforts were led by Ontiveros, who notched 24 digs and Kluna dished out a team-high 21 assists.
SCOUTING THE TEXANNS
No. 12 Tarleton State went through the regular season and the conference slate nearly unscathed. Finishing with an overall record of 27-3, the TexAnns had a near perfect run through the conference schedule with a 19-1 record. Last week, TSU swept Western New Mexico in straight sets before dropping a five-set decision in its final regular season match of the year at UT-Permian Basin.
Entering the tournament, the TexAnns boast the best attack percentage in the conference at .256, 26 points better than Texas A&M-Commerce and ranks 18th in all of NCAA Division II. The TexAnns are also holding their opponents to just a .139 attack percentage, the second-lowest in the LSC behind only Angelo State, who is limiting opponents to a .125 attack percentage.
Tarleton State features a balanced scoring attack with four players with more than 200 kills on the season, led by junior outside hitter Adriana Darthuy with 306 kills and averaging 2.91 kills per set, which ranks sixth in the Lone Star. The TSU passing attack is led by senior setter Blanca Izquierdo with 635 assists and freshman setter Kayla Brannon has chipped in 475 assists.
On the defensive side, the TexAnns feature the best middle blocker in the LSC in Hannah McManus, who leads the conference with 146 total blocks and averaging 1.39 blocks per set. Senior libero Adrianna Knutson leads the backline with 471 digs at 4.49 digs per set.
HISTORY WITH THE TEXANNS
In the 48 all-time meetings, the two teams have split evenly with each team winning 24 apiece. However, the Hounds will not only be looking to upset the TexAnns, but also snap an 11-match losing streak to TSU with their last win coming in a 3-0 sweep on Oct. 31, 2014.
CONFERENCE QUALIFIER
The Hounds have now qualified for the Lone Star Conference Tournament for sixth year in a row. Eastern will be seeking its first LSC Tournament win since its quarterfinal victory over Texas A&M-Commerce on Nov. 17, 2016. It is the third time in the last four years that ENMU is playing Tarleton State in the quarterfinal round and unlike the previous two meetings; the Hounds will be looking for a different result as the TexAnns defeated ENMU 3-0 in last year’s quarterfinal matchup and 3-1 in the 2015 quarters.
DIGGING UP THE RECORD BOOK
After recording 53 digs last week, Ontiveros finished the regular season with 525 digs, the 12th highest mark in ENMU history, moving her ahead of her libero predecessor Andrea Aguilar who recorded 522 digs in 2015. Ontiveros is currently seven digs shy of tying Aguilar’s 11th-best mark of 532 set in 2017, eight back of Aguilar’s 533 digs set in 2016, and 12 back of Hayley Couch’s 537 digs that set the 10th-best mark in 2012.
KLUNA PASSING PREDESSORS
Ontiveros isn’t the only one who is setting benchmarks in the ENMU record books this season. Kluna, the senior setter from Helotes, Texas, has moved into eighth all-time at Eastern New Mexico for career assists after completing the regular season with 1719, passing Robin Whitfield’s mark of 1677 against Texas A&M-Commerce.
SOPHOMORE SENSATION
Gannon closed out her regular season with the 371 kills and averaging 3.28 kills per set, the third-highest percentage of kills per set in the LSC, only behind Madison Brabham (3.71) from Texas A&M-Kingsville and Bria Augustine (3.62) from Western New Mexico. This season, Gannon has accumulated 407 points, only the third different ENMU player to score more than 400 points in the last 12 seasons. All-American Lauren Frye recorded 589 points in 2016 and 527 points in 2015 while Brooklyn Biel scored 424 points in 2016.
