Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
Serving Clovis, Portales and the Surrounding Communities
SaN MARCOS, Calif. — After a Friday that included a split at the Cal State San Marcos Cougar Classic, the Eastern New Mexico volleyball team had a more difficult Saturday, falling in a pair of games to close out the tournament.
The Greyhounds fell in a sweep to Bentley in the morning (25-22, 25-18, 25-18), then suffered a four-set loss in the evening to the tournament host Cougars (25-14, 25-21, 19-25, 25-20).
The opening weekend effort put the Greyhounds at 1-3 on the season heading into this weekend’s Pioneer/Patriot Invitational at Texas Woman’s University. The Greyhounds will open Friday against the University of Sioux Falls.
On a positive note for the Greyhounds, junior outside hitter Jasmine Gannon did find her way onto the all-tournament team. The 2017 Texico High graduate posted 46 total kills, and in two different matches had double figures in kills and digs. She posted 16 kills and 13 digs in ENMU’s Friday win over St. Martin’s and 14 kills and 14 digs against CSU-San Marcos.
Against Bentley: Outside hitter Dani Milner had 13 kills against just one error to help the Falcons grab the victory.
Trailing 2-0, the Greyhounds rallied to tie the third set at 15 apiece before Bentley closed things out with a 10-3 run that featured a pair of Milner kills.
Gannon had nine kills to lead the Greyhounds, while Sarah Tuioti-Mariner had seven and Julie Tucker six. Amanda Parker had 30 assists to lead the Falcons.
Against the Cougars: The tournament hosts never trailed in the first set, taking control with an 8-3 run after the Greyhounds rallied to 7-6. The Cougars (4-0) scored eight of the final 10 to close out the set.
The Greyhounds took a 16-15 lead on a Christelle Kialanda kill in the second game as part of a 9-3 run, but the Cougars responded with a 5-1 burst punctuated by an Olive Aguilar service ace.
Following a Tuioti-Mariner attack error to open the third set, the Greyhounds scored three of the next four points and built an 8-3 lead the Cougars never threatened.
Maddy Newcombe sparked the Cougars’ fourth-set victory with three service aces during a 6-0 run that made it 9-3 early.
Tuioti-Mariner added 12 kills and 12 digs, while Rae Sapiga had 19 assists and three aces. Newcombe had nine kills, tying her with Micah Hebert for team high. Kassy Doering had seven blocks.
