DURANT, Okla. --- The New Mexico Highlands volleyball team went five sets in both of its matches Friday on the opening day of the South Central Classic with the Cowgirls defeating Southern Arkansas (25-23, 16-25, 25-19, 27-25, 15-9) and falling to host Southeastern Oklahoma State (25-17, 25-20, 16-25, 13-25, 23-21).
In the first match of the day, the Cowgirls (1-5) jumped out to a 2-1 set lead on Southern Arkansas and battled in a tight fourth set as neither team led by more than three points the entire game. NMHU forced match point after
Camryn Nelson converted a kill on an assist from
Celina Naranjo to make it 24-23 Cowgirls. However, Southern Arkansas fought off the point and went on to win the set 27-25 to force a fifth and deciding set.
The Cowgirls showed no ill effects from dropping the fourth set as they jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the fifth on four Southern Arkansas errors and a
Tiffany Matchett kill. NMHU's lead ballooned to 10-2 as a trio of kills by Nelson, a kill from
Cynthia Norris and an ace from
Stacy Johnson gave the Cowgirls a commanding lead.
Southern Arkansas cut the NMHU lead to 14-9 before Julie Staffer secured the Cowgirls' first win of the season with a kill on an assists from
Samantha Sjogren.
Matchett paced the Cowgirls with 14 kills to go along with 12 digs while Nelson had 11 kills and seven digs, Norris had nine kills and two blocks, Naranjo had a team-high 23 assists to go along with 10 digs, Sjogren had 14 assists and 12 digs,
Elena Rivera led the way with 21 digs,
Taley Ferrari had six blocks while Staffer had four blocks to go along with her nine kills.
In the evening match against Southeastern Oklahoma State (3-3), the Cowgirls dropped the first two sets before roaring back and dominating the next two sets 25-16 and 25-13 to force a fifth-and-deciding set.
The Cowgirls kept the momentum early in the fifth set as they jumped out to an 8-4 advantage. However, SEOSU rallied and eventually tied the match 11-11. NMHU held off the rally and found itself with a pair of match points after a Norris kill made it 14-12. But SEOSU fought both of those off to keep the match alive at 14-14.
NMHU would go on to have five more match points, but couldn't put it away as SEOSU eventually won the deciding fifth set 23-21.
Nelson and Norris paced the Cowgirls with 10 kills apiece with Nelson adding 14 digs.
Tiffany Matchett had nine kills and 15 digs while Staffer had eight kills and three blocks. Naranjo led the team with 24 assists while Rivera had a team-best 17 digs.
The Cowgirls conclude action at the South Central Classic on Saturday as they take on Washburn (11 a.m. MT) and East Central (4 p.m.).
