A&M-Commerce 3, Eastern New Mexico 0
Location: Greyhound Arena • Portales, N.M.
Records: A&M-Commerce (6-11, 2-8 LSC); Eastern New Mexico (4-15, 1-10 LSC)
Up Next: vs. Midwestern State • Thursday, Oct. 13 • 7 p.m. • The Field House
PORTALES, N.M. – A&M-Commerce quickly shook off its defeat at 14th-ranked West Texas A&M Thursday, making the trip to Portales, N.M. and handing host Eastern New Mexico a 25-16, 25-21, 26-16 defeat at Greyhound Arena. It is the Lions' third win in their last four matches, improving 6-11 on the year and 2-8 in Lone Star Conference play.
"I was really pleased with how well we played our team offense and defense tonight," said head coach Craig Case. "Everyone showed up ready to do their part, and that was critical. We have a lot of talent on this team, but we can't utilize that talent when we play as individuals. Tonight, we played as a team."
Rachel Robertson once again came up big for A&M-Commerce, notching her seventh-consecutive double-digit kill match with 13 on the night. She had just one error on 18 attempts, giving her a career-best .667 hitting percentage. Robertson also finished with four blocks, four digs and a service ace on the night.
Breanne Snyder also notched double-digit kill totals in the victory, finishing with 10. Kayla Bond added nine kills and five digs for the Lions with Ezon Onditi just missing a double-double, finishing with eight kills and 11 digs on the night, complemented by three blocks.
Jordan Neal continues to be the quarterback of the Lion offense, finishing with 38 assists, five kills and a career-high .556 hitting percentage for A&M-Commerce. Morgan Moeller led the Lions with 13 digs defensively while Dakota Crockett added 10 of her own.
A&M-Commerce came out of the gates fired up, notching the first four points of the opening set and never looked back. The Lions used an 11-4 run to build a 10-point cushion at 15-4 as the Zias never threatened in the opening set as A&M-Commerce took the opening set 25-16.
Set two proved to be the most competitive of the match as both A&M-Commerce and Eastern New Mexico exchanged points through the first half of the stanza. With the set tied at 13, the Lions used a 5-1 run to break out to a four-point lead at 18-14, a lead it wouldn't relinquish. The Zias were able to pull to within one at 21-20, but A&M-Commerce got key points down the stretch, notching four of the last five points to take the second set 25-21.
With momentum on its side, and a long bus ride back to Commerce looming, the Lions were determined to close the match out in three. A&M-Commerce never trailed in the third, pulling out to a 12-7 lead. From there, it was all Lions as A&M-Commerce outscored the Zias 13-9 down the stretch, capped by a pair of Robertson kills to close out the match.
Eastern New Mexico was led by Amber Durand's 13 kills on the night with Megan Craft adding eight. The Zias did not record a single block on the night, compared to seven for the Lions, and hit just .132 compared to A&M-Commerce's .272.
With the trip to Portales behind them, the Lions have now completed the first half of the Lone Star Conference schedule. While A&M-Commerce may not be happy with its 2-8 mark through the first 10 games of the schedule, they are optimistic as the 2011 season starts to head down the homestretch.
"We've got our work cut out for us as we go into the second half of league play," said Case." But I feel we're playing our best volleyball of the season right now. Hopefully we're hitting our stride at the right time."
A&M-Commerce opens up the second half of the conference slate with a pair of matches at the Field House this week. The Lions welcome Midwestern State to Commerce for a 7 p.m. match on Thursday, Oct. 13 before hosting Cameron at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 15.
