ENMU volleyball goes 1-3 in Denton

DENTON, Texas — Sweep or be swept. That was the name of the game for the Greyhounds at this weekend’s Pioneer/Patriot Invitational.

Unfortunately for the Green and Silver, it was being swept three times against sweeping once at the event hosted by Texas Woman’s University.

The Greyhounds fell Friday to Sioux Falls 25-8, 25-22, 27-25; and to Harding 25-16, 25-12, 25-18. Saturday saw the Greyhounds end a five-match losing streak by topping Pace in a 25-14, 25-20, 25-14 sweep, but they completed the invitational with a 25-14, 25-17, 25-15 loss at the hands of Oklahoma Baptist. No information was available on the morning match against Pace at press time.

The good news for the Greyhounds is they’re finally getting to play at Greyhound Arena. They’ll be there 6 p.m Friday to open Lone Star Conference play against Lubbock Christian, followed by a noon Saturday matchup with Angelo State.

Versus Sioux Falls — The Cougars buried the Greyhounds early in the first game, with Brooklynne Albrecht serving four straight aces in 9-0 run that made it 17-4 early. The Greyhounds, meanwhile, had only scored on a Lauren Bresnahan kill and three service errors from Sioux Falls.

The teams went back and forth in the second set until Kassandra Springer and Gracelyn Stubbs served the Cougars to a 6-1 run and held the lead throughout the set. The Greyhounds held off set point at 24-19 on a Jasmine Gannon block, but a Kenzie Byers killed ended it three points later.

Eastern jumped out to a 10-4 advantaged in the third, but the Cougars chipped away at the led to pull ahead 23-22 on a Springer kill. The teams each had game point, and the Cougars capitalized on their second chance with a Springer ace.

Springer had match highs of 11 kills and an eye-popping 12 aces, while Krista Goerger had 20 assists. Sarah Tuioti-Mariner had nine kills to lead the Greyhounds.

Against Harding— The Greyhounds struggled throughout the afternoon with a .222 hitting percentage and nobody posting double digits in kills.

The Buffaloes (4-1) trailed just once, when the Green and Silver started the third set with a Tuioti-Mariner kill, but responded by posting six of the next eight points to take control.

The first two sets saw leads of 7-2 and 8-1, respectively.

Logan Smith had 14 kills to lead all players, while Arika Johnson had 18 assists and a pair of blocks. Kinley Schnell had five of the Buffaloes’ eight service aces.

Gannon had eight kills and four digs, while Rae Sapiga had nine assists.

Against Oklahoma Baptist — The Greyhounds started with a Tuioti-Mariner kill, but the Bison responded with a 7-0 run and never trailed by more than two the rest of the match.

Gannon had 12 kills to lead the Greyhounds.