GUNNISON, Colo. – The Cowgirls took a 2-1 lead and was on match point in set four, but the Mountaineers rallied and took the fifth set easily as the New Mexico Highlands volleyball team (11-18, 5-13 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) lost its season finale to Western State (2-20, 2-16) 21-25, 25-20, 23-25, 30-28, 15-4 Saturday night (Nov. 8).
With Highlands down 11-10 in set one, senior
Alicia Moreno recorded a kill and freshman
Shayli Schulz went on a big service run. Two hitting errors, a kill from freshman
Lexis Satele and a bad set by Western State put the Cowgirls up four and forced a Mountaineers timeout. Satele and senior
Jessica Piper led the team with 20 digs for the match.
Out of the timeout, a Western State error, an assisted block by senior
Elizabeth Gomez and freshman
Katie Trammel and a kill from Moreno bookended the run. Western State cut the deficit to 21-18, but a solo block from freshman
Tianna Matthews and a Moreno kill put the visitors up 23-18. The two teams sided out the rest of the set as a Moreno kill gave the Cowgirls the win.
Moreno hit .500 in set one with six kills and only one error on 10 attempts to put Highlands up a set. She finished her career with 13 kills and 18 digs in the match for her 10th double-double of the season and her fourth straight to end 2014.
Set two saw the home team lead for most of the frame before a late service break helped propel Western State to tie the match. With the Mountaineers up 19-18, Tori Gaherty put themselves on serve. Jordan Eatwell – who finished the season with a double-double with a match-best 19 kills and 16 digs – broke the Cowgirls with a point and put the home team up three. At 22-20, Western State scored the last three points to tie the match.
The Cowgirls scored 5-of-7 points at the end of set three to take a 2-1 lead. After a Western State error tied the set at 21, two attack errors put the Cowgirls up the all-important two points. Sara Lawson tallied a pair of kills to tie the set at 23, but a block from Matthews-Moreno and a kill from Matthews gave the visitors the set.
Set four saw two long service runs shift momentum. With the Cowgirls down 18-15, a kill from Schulz put the Cowgirls' Matthews on serve. Schulz nearly missed a triple-double with 34 assists, 11 digs and seven kills in the match. The Cowgirls went up 22-18 thanks to three Western State errors and a trio of aces put Highlands in command 22-18. However, the home team answered with five straight to take a 23-22 lead. Highlands hit three attack errors and a pair of kills put Western State in the lead.
Trailing 27-26, the Cowgirls sided out and broke Western State's serve on an error. However, the home team overcame the match point as a kill, ace and a bad set by Highlands tied the match and sent it to the deciding fifth.
Western State scored the first three points of the set and out hit the Cowgirls .111 to negative .273 to take set five 15-4. Up 8-4, the Mountaineers scored the final seven points to take the final set by 11. During the run on Eatwell's serve, Highlands hit three errors while Western State hit four aces.
