Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Staff report
DENVER — Eastern New Mexico University junior Mercy Rotich took first place in NCAA Division II South Central Regional women’s competition on Saturday, helping the Greyhounds finish 10th as a team.
Rotich, a native of Kenya and a transfer from El Paso Community College, posted a time of 21 minutes, 47 seconds over six kilometers. She qualified for the D-II nationals, scheduled for Nov. 19 in Saint Leo, Florida.
Junior Coley Norcross was ENMU’s second runner, coming in 46th with a time of 23:55.
The Hounds finished with 315 points. Adams State took women’s team honors with 43 points to 71 for fellow Rocky Mountain Conference school Western State.
Meantime, the ENMU men had a rough day, finishing 27th in the 28 field with 719 points. Only Oklahoma Panhandle State (883) was behind the Greyhounds.
Two more RMAC schools, Colorado School of Mines and Adams State, finished tied for the team title with 36 points. Mines earned the top spot on a sixth-runner tie-breaker.
Sophomore Lorenzo Juarez was ENMU’s top runner, finishing 127th with an 8K time of 35:24.
Volleyball — At Commerce, Texas, two of the Lone Star Conference’s hottest teams matched up and Texas A&M-Commerce extended its winning streak to five matches with a 25-22, 25-19, 25-19 victory over ENMU.
The loss ended the Greyhounds’ six-game winning streak for the Greyhounds (16-11, 11-6 LSC), during which time they had lost just one set, and vaulted the Lions (18-11, 12-6) ahead of them into third place with one week left in the season. It marks Commerce’s longest winning streak since 2002.
ENMU built a 20-15 lead in the first set before Commerce finished off the set with a 10-2 run, in which sophomore middle blocker Jaslyn Wacker was in on four blocks.
The Lions broke away from an 11-11 tie to take the second set, then scored six consecutive points with freshman Rylie Fuentes on the service line to pull away in the third.
Senior outside hitter Taryn Driver and junior outside hitter Neka Nelson each had nine kills for Commerce. Meantime, senior outside hitter Lauren Frye was the only player on either side in double figures in that category with 14 for the Hounds, while junior libero Andrea Aguilar of Clovis led everyone in digs with 14.
Fuentes posted a double-double for the Lions with 10 digs and 26 assists.
ENMU closes out its regular season next week with LSC matches at Western New Mexico on Tuesday and at home against Angelo State on Friday and Tarleton State on Saturday. Meantime, the Lions remaining matches are at Texas-Permian Basin and West Texas A&M next weekend.
