ENMU ROUNDUP: ENMU women third at Vernon

VERNON, Texas – Eastern New Mexico University’s women finished third while the men came in ninth over the weekend in the Vernon College rodeo, the Greyhounds’ final outing of the fall.

It was the fourth consecutive top-five showing for the women, who tallied 165 points to finish 10 points behind runnerup Weatherford College. For the season, the Greyhounds are fourth in the Southwest Region.

Senior Shacie Marr split third and fourth in the long round of barrel racing with a time of 17.37 seconds, then ran 17.62 in Saturday’s short go to take fourth and finish fourth in the average for 95 points.

Marr and freshman Tyra Tsosie made it to the short go in goat-tying. Tsosie’s 7.9-second run in the long round put her seventh, and she split fourth, fifth and sixth with a time of 8.7 to finish fifth in the average for 40 points.

Marr ran 7.7 seconds in the long run to split third, fourth and fifth, good for 30 points.

For the men, junior Zachary Townsend split first and second in the long go of steer wrestling, giving the Hounds 55 team points.

ENMU’s spring schedule, which should also include five rodeos, has not been released but should start in late February.

Volleyball – ENMU dropped its final road match of the season on Saturday, getting swept by Texas A&M International 25-19, 25-19, 25-14 in Lone Star Conference play at Laredo, Texas.

Freshman outside hitter Aryana Ledet notched 18 kills and sophomore outside hitter Mia Molina chipped in 13 for the Dustdevils (8-15, 5-9 LSC), whose 18-player roster includes nine freshmen and five sophomores. Meantime, sophomore outside hitter Anna Ligart combined nine kills, 10 digs and two aces, sophomore middle hitter Caitlyn Cornell posted three block solos and freshman setter Emma Lade tallied 40 assists.

Senior middle blocker Randi Crandall and sophomore outside hitter/middle blocker Sophia Valdez led the Hounds in kills with seven apiece, while freshman setter Carla Reyes earned seven digs and 22 assists.

ENMU got off to 5-1 leads in each of the first two sets, but they didn’t last long. A&M International pulled even 6-6 in Game 1, then after going back and forth with the Hounds ran off the final six points of the set.

In Game 2, the Dustdevils erased their early deficit with an 8-0 run en route to a 2-0 lead in games, then finished it off with a dominant third set.

This weekend, the Hounds wrap up the season at Steve Loy Arena, taking on Texas Woman’s at 6 p.m. on Friday and Midwestern State at 2 p.m. on Saturday.