Texas Woman's notches sweep over Hounds

Texas Woman’s led virtually wire-to-wire on Friday night and the Pioneers cruised to a 25-12, 25-16, 25-14 Lone Star Conference volleyball victory over Eastern New Mexico University at Steve Loy Arena.

TWU (19-7, 12-3 LCS) won for the sixth time in its last eight matches against the Greyhounds (5-21, 2-13) and improved its advantage in the all-time series to 28-20.

Senior outside hitter Malia Viernes collected a double-double for the Pioneers with a team-high 14 kills and 11 digs. Senior outside hitter Erin Jones and junior outside hitter Tori Woods added 10 kills each, while junior setter Grace Reynolds just missed a double-double with 26 assists and nine digs and senior libero Luna Franco posted a team-high 20 digs.

For ENMU, senior middle blocker and sophomore outside hitter/middle blocker Sophia Valdez each finished with six kills. Freshman setter Cayla Reyes posted 18 assists and eight digs while senior outside hitter Halle Sanders added a team-high 10 digs.

TWU scored the first two points and then went up 6-1 on a kill by Viernes and an ace from Woods. The Hounds closed to 10-7 on an ace by senior outside hitter Darcy Dodd, but the Pioneers quickly pulled away to take a one-game lead.

ENMU had its only leads of the night, trading points with the Pioneers until, at 5-6, TWU began to take over. Three Pioneers kill and an ENMU attack error accounted for a 4-0 run that made it 13-8, and a 5-0 spurt extended the margin to 20-12.

Texas Woman’s then opened a 6-0 lead in Game 3 behind a kill apiece from four players. The Hounds made a brief move, closing to 14-10 on a 4-0 run that featured an ace by Reyes, but TWU slowly pulled away and ended it on kills by freshman outside hitter Myracle Stockman and freshman setter Kiana Reed.

ENMU closed out its season on Saturday at home against Midwestern State.