The UTPB volleyball team began Lone Star Conference play on a strong note, defeating Eastern New Mexico in straight sets Thursday at Falcon Dome.
The Falcons won by scores of 25-16, 25-13, 25-13 and improving to 8-2 overall, 1-0 in conference.
The Greyhounds fell to 3-9, 0-1.
With the win, UTPB has now won eight consecutive games.
The Falcons haven’t lost since their 3-2 defeat against Fort Lewis College back on Sept. 6 at the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational in San Angelo.
The loss ended a two-game winning streak for the Greyhounds.
“It was exactly what we wanted,” said UTPB head coach CJ Allard. “We controlled every facet of the game and we were able to show our depth as well.”
UTPB’s Chyra Thompson and Kennedi Wright each had nine kills to lead the Falcons while Canyen Rodriguez had two aces.
Cassandra Rother, Thompson and Wright each had three blocks.
Jenna Gray had 16 assists for UTPB while Gabby Gregorski and Wright each finished with 11 digs.
Eastern New Mexico was led by Sophia Valdez in kills with eight while Abigayle Falefia had two aces.
Valdez also had one block.
Cyla Reyes had 13 assists for the Greyhounds and Imahni Brown finished with 10 digs.
“I think the biggest thing for us tonight was knowing the scouting report,” Allard said. “There were certain rotations that we knew Eastern New Mexico was going to try and we were able to shut that down. We were able to execute our game plan.”
UTPB began the first set on an 11-5 run.
The Falcons’ lead was soon 19-10.
UTPB would go on a 6-6 run to close out the set and take a 1-0 lead.
The Falcons began the second set on a 4-2 run as a kill by Rother gave the Falcons a two-point lead.
UTPB soon made it a 6-2 lead after a block by Wright and a kill by April Egwu.
After a kill by Wright, Eastern New Mexico called a timeout as the Greyhounds trailed 7-2.
The Greyhounds responded with a 3-1 run.
A kill by Eastern New Mexico’s Darcy Dodd helped the Greyhounds to an 8-4 deficit and a kill by Abigayle Falefia made it a three-point game on the next play.
An error by Eastern New Mexico helped the Falcons to a six-point lead.
A kill by Valdez made it a four-point game as UTPB’s lead was only 14-10.
UTPB went on a quick 2-0 run, capped by an Eastern New Mexico error.
A kill by Wright made it 20-12 for UTPB.
The Falcons used a 5-1 run to close out the set and take a 2-0 advantage.
An attack error on the Greyhounds helped the Falcons to a 2-1 lead at the start of the third set.
A kill by Thompson made it 6-4 for UTPB shortly after.
However, a 3-1 run by the visitors tied things up at 7-7.
The Falcons responded with a 5-2 run to take a 12-9 lead.
A kill by Thompson made it 17-12 for the Falcons before Eastern New Mexico called a timeout.
UTPB continued to remain in control and soon had a 20-12 advantage.
The Falcons went on a 5-1 run to finish up the third set and complete the sweep.
UTPB will next face defending national runner-up and No. 10-ranked West Texas A&M at home at 2 p.m. Saturday at Falcon Dome.
“This is why you want to play,” Allard said. “You want to play against the teams that are at the top and West Texas A&M, a top-10 team, they expect to play well. We’re earning that expectation ourselves, but we’re really going to find out soon enough how real or how fake we are.”
Eastern New Mexico will next face rivals Western New Mexico at 2 p.m. Saturday in Silver City, N.M.
