ACU pulls out win over Zias

CMI correspondent: Joshua Lucero

ENMU's Dallas Russell, a Portales High graduate, just misses a save during the third set of Saturday's Lone Star Conference volleyball match at Portales High School.

CMI correspondent: Joshua Lucero

ENMU junior Courtney Bolton hits the ball between Abilene Christian's Rachel Riley, left, and Sara Oxford during the first set of Saturday's Lone Star Conference volleyball match at Portales High School. The Wildcats edged the Zias in five games.

CMI correspondent: Joshua Lucero

ENMU junior Hayley Couch returns a volley during the second set of Saturday's Lone Star Conference volleyball match at Portales High School. The Wildcats edged the Zias in five games.

Eastern New Mexico University's volleyball team, which hasn't beaten Abilene Christian in nearly eight years, had the Wildcats dangerously on the ropes Saturday.

Unfortunately for the Zias, ACU righted the ship just in time and held on late for a 25-13, 15-25, 19-25, 25-17, 15-13 Lone Star Conference victory, the Wildcats' 11th in a row in the series.

It was the home opener for ENMU (4-5, 0-1 LSC), but the match was played at Portales High School because of ongoing work being done on Greyhound Arena.

Abilene Christian (4-6, 1-1), which will make the move to the Division I Southland Conference next year, controlled the first set before things suddenly made a drastic turn.

ENMU dominated Games 2 and 3, trailing only briefly 1-0 in the third set as ACU managed more than two consecutive points only once — late in the third — during that stretch.

"Eastern's serving gave us a hard time getting into a rhythm," ACU coach Kellen Mock said. "We never really got anything going."

The Zias had a 3-2 lead early in the fourth set before ACU went on a 7-2 run and kept control after that.

Trailing 11-7 in the final set, ENMU pulled even with four consecutive points — getting two tip-shot kills from junior middle blocker Kaitlyn Maddams and another kill from junior outside hitter Lindsey Barron — but freshman Corrie Reeder's kill gave the Wildcats the lead and the serve and senior outside hitter Kalynne Allen's ace made it a two-point margin.

Junior middle blocker Sara Oxford, a lanky 6-footer, converted a quick-set on match point.

"The kids fought hard; it wasn't a bad effort at all," said ENMU coach Mike Maguire, who is without several players involved in an eligibility issue the school is checking into. "We made a few little mistakes at the end."

Maguire admitted he felt pretty good after the third set.

"I thought we had things going pretty good," he said. "But we still had some things we could be doing better, and I thought we became a little predictable."

Oxford finished with 18 kills for the Wildcats, while freshman libero Madison Hoover had 30 digs and Siemens added a double-double with 56 assists and 12 digs.

"Eastern's a team you can't let up on," Mock said. "You've got to keep the gas peddle down because they're so scrappy.

"We've got a good squad, but we're young. I'm proud of my team for pulling out a win against a team pushing us as hard as they could."

Barron notched a match-high 20 kills and Maddams added 14 for ENMU. Junior setter Kennedi Catano had 45 assists while senior defensive specialist Emily Lubbers contributed a match-high five aces to go with 13 kills.