SAN ANGELO, Texas --- The New Mexico Highlands volleyball team opened their season with a tight match against Texas A&M-Kingsville it eventually dropped before losing the evening contest to host Angelo State Friday at the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational.
NMHU (0-2) in its 3-1 loss to TAMUK (25-23, 28-30, 25-19, 27-25) opened the match by taking an 18-13 lead in the first set before TAMUK (1-1) went on a 5-1 run to close the gap to 19-18. The Cowgirls got a kill from
Tiffany Matchett out of a timeout and seemed to take the momentum back as it led 23-21 after a
Cynthia Norris kill. But the Javelinas ended the set on a 4-0 run to claim the game 25-23.
The Cowgirls trailed 20-16 in the second before coming out a timeout on a 6-1 run to take a 22-21 lead on a
Stacy Johnson kill assisted by
Celina Naranjo. The Javelinas eventually took the lead back and had a set point at 24-23, but NMHU thwarted it with a timely kill from Norris. The Cowgirls went on to have five set points before a TAMUK attack error gave NMHU the 30-28 win to even the match at 1-1.
NMHU came out slow in the third and fell behind 5-0 before getting back into the match at 12-11. That's as close as the Cowgirls got and eventually dropped the set 25-19.
In the fourth game, the Cowgirls again fell behind (this time 5-1) before rallying behind aces from
Elena Rivera and Naranjo to tie the set 14-14. TAMUK answered with a 4-0 run to increase the lead to 18-14 before a Norris kill ended the run and started an 8-2 NMHU streak capped by a
Trinity Saiz kill to give the Cowgirls a 22-20 lead. NMHU had two match points at 24-23 and 25-24, but couldn't' capitalize and eventually fell 27-25 to drop the match.
Matchett paced the Cowgirls with 14 kills, 23 digs and three blocks while freshman
Keegan Lopez had nine kills and Norris added eight.
Samantha Sjogren and Naranjo had 19 assists apiece while Rivera added 20 digs.
In the evening contest against Angelo State (2-0 – a program that's reached the NCAA Tournament seven consecutive seasons), the Cowgirls were swept 3-0 (25-10, 25-15, 25-11). Johnson led the Cowgirls with five kills while
Julie Staffler added four. Sjogren had a team-best nine assists while Naranjo had a NMHU-high 10 digs.
The Cowgirls wrap up play at the event Saturday as they take on UA-Fort Smith at 9 a.m. before facing St. Mary's (TX) at 1 p.m.
