COMMERCE – Down a set and just four points from losing the match, the Eastern New Mexico Greyhounds rallied to defeat the Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team in five sets on Friday night at the Field House. The Greyhounds won the fifth set by a score of 15-10.
 
Friday was the Lone Star Conference opening match for both teams. Eastern New Mexico picked up its first win of the season, holding a record of 1-7, and dropping A&M-Commerce to a record of 1-4 overall. The was the first win for Eastern New Mexico over A&M-Commerce since 2016.
 
The Lions took the first set by a score of 25-19. The Lions won four of the last five points, including kills by Sydney Andersen (Placentia, Calif.), Nicki Gonelli (Round Rock – Stony Point) and Celeste Vela (Guadalajara, Mexico). A&M-Commerce had a hitting percentage of .419 in the first set, but in the match, the Lions' hitting percentage was .195. Eastern New Mexico hit .316 in the match.
 
Andersen had 12 kills in the match, Gonelli had 11 and Vela had 10. Maiya Dickie (Huntsville) and Essence Allen (Longview – Tatum) led the team with 14 kills each. All but one of Dickie's kills came in sets 2-5.
 
The Greyhounds were down 8-6 in the second set and fought all the way back to lead 13-9. The Lions tried to keep it close, but lost the set, 25-16. As a team, Eastern New Mexico had just eight attacking errors all match while A&M-Commerce had 29.
 
An assisted block by Allen and Dickie helped A&M-Commerce take a 9-2 lead in the third, but Eastern New Mexico once again got right back in the set, trailing just 12-10. The Greyhounds were never able to catch the Lions to tie the set and fell two sets down to one a kill by Allen, which gave A&M-Commerce a 25-20 win in the third set.
 
Neither team was able to separate itself in the early parts of the fourth set. The Greyhounds went on a 4-1 run with the set tied at nine, but the Lions answered with a 4-0 run to take the lead. The set was tied at 21, when Eastern New Mexico went on a 4-0 run to force a fifth set. The Lions had three attacking errors in the 4-0 stretch.
 
The Lions took an 8-7 lead in the fifth set thanks to a service error, but the Greyhounds once again rushed back, looking for their first win in nearly two years. Eastern New Mexico was in the driver's seat with a 5-0 run in the fifth and closed it out, 15-10, on an attacking error by A&M-Commerce.
 
Vela continued her run of being the dominant primary setter for the Lions. She had 40 assists on Friday night and has had 40 or more assists in each of the last three matches. Aislynn Shore (Hockley – Frassati Catholic) had 11 assists in two sets played.
 
Libero Lyric Hebert (Arvada, Colo.) had 25 digs, Allen had 13 as did Riley Davidson (Commerce). Vela had eight.
Allen and Dickie had two assisted blocks each, Reese Fetty (Farmersville) had three. Six Lions had one service ace each.
 
UP NEXT
A&M-Commerce has a quick turnaround time on Saturday, hosting West Texas A&M at 1 p.m. in the Field House.