Riding the momentum of a strong road trip and home crowd, the Western New Mexico University volleyball team made it six straight victories as they remained undefeated in Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference play with a 3-0 (25-9, 25-20, 25-21) victory over Westminster College Friday night.
WNMU (11-3, 6-0 RMAC) continued the strong defense that has been a staple this season limiting WC (4-9, 1-4 RMAC) to just a .009 hitting percentage (23-22-106), while countering with a .192 (40-21-99) clip.
The Lady Mustangs were excited to be back home and it showed in the first set as the momentum continued right away jumping out to a quick 8-0 lead. Leeta Grap, Melanie Hughes and Shannon Rich all collected points, with Rich pounding the final two to complete the strong start. Rich, the reigning RMAC Offensive Player of the Week came out firing right away and finished with nine kills and an impressive .467 hitting percentage. Chyler Imai and Sheila Menezes helped push the lead into double-digits at 17-6 with a service ace and kill, respectively, before the defense would force four errors down the stretch to help the Lady Mustangs claim the 25-9 set win. WNMU held the Griffins to a negative .286 hitting percentage in the set.
The second frame looked to be similar to the first with WNMU in control early on. A pair of Rich kills had WNMU in front by six-point leads with the last at 14-8 when WC came storming back. The Griffins chipped away before getting to within two points at 19-17 when the big play of the set came through for the Lady Mustangs. After the Griffins had some confusion on their side of the court, the hit the ball back to WNMU in time for Menezes to deliver a big kill to change momentum at 20-17. The Lady Mustangs would ride that wave to 23-20 when Morgan Lyneis and an attack error by the Griffins gave WNMU the 25-20 set win and 2-0 match lead.
The third set was tight as well with WC holding several leads including a 20-18 lead. When it looked like the Lady Mustangs were in trouble, they rose to the occasion ripping off seven of the next eight points to snatch the third set and the match. Rich helped ignite the final rally with a kill and Grap promptly followed with her own kill to knot the set at 20. Two errors by the Griffins followed before an ace by Hughes and then a kill by Rich had it at match point. Following an attack error by WNMU, WC had a service error leading to the 25-21 WNMU set win and 3-0 match victory.
Grap led the way for the Lady Mustangs with 10 kills and she also added 10 digs. Rich had her nine kills in 15 swings, while Lyneis added seven. Hughes dished out 24 assists, while Imai added nine. On defense, Ashley Mataele had 13 digs and in terms of blocks Rich posted three, with two coming solo.
WNMU will host Colorado Mesa Saturday night beginning at 7 p.m. The Mavericks came away with a 3-1 win over New Mexico Highlands earlier tonight