The UTPB volleyball team continued its impressive start to the season by defeating Eastern New Mexico 3-1 Friday at Falcon Dome.
Playing in the second game of this week’s Dr. Steve Aicinena “Iceman” Invitational, the Falcons won by scores of 25-22, 25-20, 21-25, 25-19 and improved to 5-1 for the season while Eastern New Mexico fell to 2-4.
“It was a good win,” UTPB head coach Tim Loesch said. “Eastern New Mexico is a tough team. They came in ready to play. They can pose some challenges to us with their offense and defense. It was tough to solve. All the matches were back and forth. But I was proud of the way we finished sets better than last week. That was crucial for us.”
UTPB is 2-0 in this week’s home tournament, sweeping Minnesota-Crookston on Thursday.
Aaliyah Gray led the Falcons in kills with 12 while April Egwu had nine and Stephanie Sanchez finished with eight.
Egwu also had seven blocks and Devin Alcoser had 18 assists to lead the Falcons.
UTPB’s Reann Cato had 16 digs.
Eastern New Mexico’s Gracelyn Stubbs had 15 kills while Kayla Ison had 25 assists and Getsemani Carrasco had 23 digs for the Greyhounds.
Both teams kept it close early in the first set as both teams were tied at 10.
The Falcons went on a quick 2-0 run to take a 12-10 advantage before the Greyhounds responded with a 3-0 run to go back in front as both teams traded points.
Eastern New Mexico took an 18-14 lead as UTPB began to have trouble cutting the gap to within three as the set wore on.
A block by UTPB’s April Egwu started a 4-0 Falcon run that saw UTPB go in front 19-18.
Both teams refused concede and continued to trade points.
The Falcons took a 22-20 lead before Eastern New Mexico called a timeout.
A kill by Halle Sanders brought the Greyhounds to a 22-21 deficit.
A Greyhound error on the following play helped UTPB go on a 3-1 run to close out the first set 25-22.
UTPB began the second set on a promising 7-2 run.
Eastern New Mexico managed to cut the Falcons’ lead to 14-12.
Just like with the first set, both teams kept it close and were tied up at 19 and again at 20.
But just like with the first set, the Falcons once again found a way to close out on a strong note, going on a 5-0 run to win the set and take a 2-0 advantage.
“It’s something that we work on in practice and will continue to work on during the year,” Loesch said of his team’s ability to close out sets. “It’s something we have to do in this conference because no one is going to make a bunch of errors or anything like that. We can’t just coast home. We have to keep improving and finish each set strong.”
The Greyhounds began the third set on a 10-8 run.
Eastern New Mexico remained in front, taking a 12-9 lead before the Falcons responded with a quick 2-0 run.
The Greyhounds took a 15-12 lead shortly after.
Moments later, Eastern New Mexico had another three-point advantage before UTPB came back to tie it up.
The Falcons used a 3-0 run to go in front 19-18.
Not wanting to get swept, the Greyhounds took a 21-19 lead.
However, the Falcons responded with a 2-0 run to tie things up.
It wouldn’t be enough as the Greyhounds managed to close the set with a 25-21 win and force a fourth set.
Another close set saw both teams going back and forth.
UTPB inched ahead on a 15-11 advantage which was, at that point, the largest lead either side had in the fourth set alone.
The Falcons continued to build off that momentum, taking a 17-13 lead.
UTPB managed to stay in front, taking a 23-18 lead and eventually close out the set and match.
It was the second time this season that the Falcons have gone up against a Lone Star Conference opponent in a tournament game.
Last week, UTPB fell to Angelo State in straight sets in San Angelo in the Falcons’ only loss so far this season.
UTPB will get a chance to see another Lone Star Conference member this week when the Falcons face St.Mary’s at 1 p.m. Saturday back at Falcon Dome.
UTPB will finish the week’s tournament with a 5 p.m. Saturday game against Sul Ross State.
“We like to do that,” Loesch said of seeing conference opponents early in the season. “We usually only get to play our conference opponents once because there are so many of them during the regular season. It’s good competition and we like to play them in preseason because we’re going to have good competition and we don’t have to travel to places like California. We’re going to play St. Mary’s tomorrow and they’re going to be another conference foe and they’re going to be tough. It should be a good match.”
