ENMU volleyball team splits on Saturday

LUBBOCK — For the fourth-straight match, Eastern New Mexico University’s volleyball team went five sets.

But, for the first time in three matches, the Greyhounds came out on the losing end.

Though they had a 2-0 set lead in Saturday’s match against Lubbock Christian, the ‘Hounds dropped three straight, losing the match 25-22, 25-18, 19-25, 22-25, 13-15, which ended their winning streak at two and dropped their record to 2-6.

Eastern began Saturday’s match strong, with Alexis Aguirre tallying six assists, four digs and one kill in the first set, as the Greyhounds held on for the three-point victory.

The second set was a doozy, tied seven different times with the seventh tie finding each team with 16 points. Eastern, however, won the next seven points to build a 23-16 cushion, and went on for the 25-18 win.

The third set was tied 4-4 early, but Lubbock Christian took control and surged to a 17-9 advantage. The Greyhounds collected themselves and climbed back to within 17-15, then won three of the next five points to close within 19-18.

But Lubbock Christian took six of the next seven points and rolled to a 25-19 win to stay alive.

Eastern jumped out to a 2-0 fourth-set lead, but quickly found itself down 4-2. Lubbock Christian maintained the lead until Eastern drew into a 21-all tie. Again, though, Lubbock Christian closed strong, this time winning four of the next five points to win the set and tie the overall match 2-2.

Lubbock Christian led the entire fifth set, and though the Greyhounds did rebound from a five-point deficit and came within one point three different times — 12-11, 13-12 and 14-13 — the Chaparrals were able to get the last point to seal the victory, snapping a six-game losing streak and improving to 2-6. They had not won since opening the season by blanking Westminster 3-0.

Aguirre finished with 31 assists, eight digs and one kill.

Kaitlyn Kluna added 26 assists, seven digs and two aces. Andrea Aguilar contributed 22 digs and three assists; Sara Tuioti-Mariner chipped in with 21 kills, four digs, one assist and one ace; and Natasha McClendon had 14 digs and one ace.

Jasmine Gannon and Brooklyn Biel supplied 13 kills, two digs and one assist apiece, with Biel adding three blocks and Gannon notching two blocks.

In Saturday’s earlier match, the Greyhounds notched their second straight victory while playing their third-consecutive five-set match, winning 25-20, 25-21, 17-25, 15-25, 15-9 over Southwestern Oklahoma State.

They had to bear down in the fifth after nearly squandering a 2-0 set lead, but came away with the six-point win and improved to 2-5.

Aguirre notched 27 assists, with Kluna adding 24 assists, 14 digs and two aces. Aguilar supplied 24 digs and two aces, and Biel contributed 16 kills, four blocks and an ace.

Tuioti-Mariner chipped in with 15 kills, with McClendon tallying 15 digs, Gannon ringing up 13 kills and three blocks, and Sadie Phimmasone chiming in with three blocks for the ‘Hounds.