ENMU volleyball team scrimmages USW

Staff writer

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PORTALES — There are still about two weeks before Eastern New Mexico University plays its first regular-season volleyball match of the season in West Texas A&M’s Lady Buff Classic.

link Staff photo: Matthew Asher

Redshirt freshman outside hitter Jennifer Martinez taps the ball over the University of the Southwest defensive wall on Saturday afternoon at Greyhound Arena.

To help his squad get ready for four matches in two days at WT, coach Sia Poyer’s Greyhounds scrimmaged University of the Southwest on Saturday at Greyhound Arena.

No stats were kept as the teams played four 20-minute sets. The purpose of the scrimmage for Poyer was to find any weaknesses for the Hounds and work to improve on them.

The first three points did not go ENMU’s way as the Hounds seemed out of sorts. However, once they got the serve, the team calmed down and were in more control the rest of the time.

“It technically was the first three points of the season,” said Lauren Frye, ENMU’s senior right-side hitter. “Last year, that was a big thing for us was starting slow.

“We’re focusing on getting off to fast starts. We want to work on finishing the first five points, then the first 10 points. You win the first set, that carries momentum.”

Poyer said the reason for the easy points given up was the youth of his first squad.

“Our first rotation, for both outsides (outside hitters) this was their first (collegiate) competition since they’re both redshirt freshmen,” he said. “We talked about staying under two service errors in four sets. I think we had four, which is fine. I’m happy with that.

“We also spoke about free balls and how to set them up. I was happy. I wish we had converted more easy points, but that’s expected from our first match of the season.”

ENMU had the edge on attacks and kills as USW didn’t appear to have anyone with the abilities around the net of Frye.

“The last three sets, we finally got it going,” Frye said. “We got our rhythm and connections down, and especially our speed. That’s going to be a big thing for us, is getting that started at the beginning of the game.”

Overall, Frye and Poyer were satisfied with how the team played, but each had some thoughts on what could use improvement.

“I think our blocking could be a little more disciplined, but not bad,” Frye said. “We had a lot of people rolling in and out (in the rotation) that won’t be doing that much in the season.”

In addition to the blocking, Poyer wants Frye and his other two outsides to get as many easy kill opportunities as possible.

“We got a lot of free balls that we should be able to run (through) all three hitters,” Poyer said. “We did, but it’s just a matter of connecting on our sets.

“Because we weren’t aggressively attacked much today, we should have a lot of easy passes to set up for spikes. We had that sometimes but not always. We expected that from our first match of the season.

“We need ball control so we can run our three hitters as much as possible, especially in our (Lone Star) Conference.”

ENMU’s official opener is against Northern Michigan in the WT event at Canyon, Texas. The Hounds play their home opener at Greyhound Arena on Sept. 20 against New Mexico Highlands.