Greyhounds suffer pair of five-set losses

PORTALES — Six weeks ago, things were better than nearly anybody with Eastern New Mexico volleyball could or should expect.

Despite a devastating knee injury that shelved offensive standout Sarah Tuioti-Mariner, the Greyhounds were riding a three-match winning streak and had sole possession of fourth place in the Lone Star Conference.

Since then, it’s been a struggle. A pair of five-set losses Friday and Saturday at Greyhound Stadium marked a season-ending stretch of 11 losses in 13 matches, and the Greyhounds (9-19, 7-13) entering Saturday night hopeful Western New Mexico wouldn’t beat Tarleton State and edge them for the eighth and final LSC tournament spot.

Albeit extremely unlikely, a WNMU win over Tarleton State (27-2, 19-0) would put the Mustangs in a tie with the Greyhounds. That win over the TexAnns would also serve as the tiebreaker to give WNMU the eighth seed.

The highest probably at press time remained that Tarleton State would finish LSC play perfect, and end up hosting the eight-team conference tournament — and open against the Greyhounds.

Here’s a recap on the Hounds’ final regular season weekend:

Friday (29-31, 22-25, 21-25, 25-23, 10-15 loss to Texas A&M-Commerce) — The Greyhounds nearly pulled off the upset over the No. 21 Lions, leading 5-1 in the deciding set following a pair of Commerce attack errors.

But oh, how the Lions responded. An 8-0 run featured two Shelley Chapron kills and made it 8-5 Commerce. A Taylor Roberts kill stopped the rally, but the Lions answered that with a 5-0 run.

Chapron had 17 kills and eight blocks to lead the Lions, while Jasmine Gannon had a match-high 18 kills to lead the Greyhounds. Lauryn Bresnahan had four blocks and nine kills on the evening, while Alba Ontiveros totaled 29 digs.

Saturday (25-16, 21-25, 25-11, 19-25, 12-15 loss to Texas Woman’s) — The Hounds seemed primed to end things in the fourth set, with an early 4-1 burst to start things. But the Pioneers knotted it up on an Erin Jones service ace and a pair of ENMU errors to set up what would be a back-and-forth set.

The Greyhounds took an 18-17 lead on consecutive hitting errors by Texas Woman’s, but the Pioneers (18-12, 10-10) scored the next seven to take control before a Kate Ranes kill pushed it to five.

Caroline Noel had 16 kills to go with three blocks for the Pioneers. Sophomore Jasmine Gannon had 12 kills, while Christelle Kialanda had seven blocks and six kills.

Tournament: Tarleton State will face either ENMU (win over WNMU Saturday) or WNMU (loss Saturday). Texas A&M-Commerce will be the second seed, and will face seventh seed Texas-Permian Basin.

The Pioneers will play West Texas A&M in the 4-5 game. Both Texas Woman’s and Texas A&M-Kingsville went 10-10 in LSC play, but Texas Woman’s received the fifth seed by virtue of their 1-1 record against third seed Angelo State. The Rambelles will face Kingsville in the 3-6 matchup.