Zias top Mesa State in five games
Schiely's 25 kills lead ENMU to NCAA Second Round

Box score

KEARNEY, NEB. — Lindsay Schiely (Jr., MB, Portland, OR/Clackamas CC) made a season-high 25 kills and posted just one attack error to lead the Eastern New Mexico University volleyball team (25-8) to a five-game (30-24, 30-27, 28-30, 30-32, 15-13) victory over Mesa State College in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday, Nov. 19. The Zias hit .226 as a team and held the high-powered Maverick offense to a .217 percentage.

Eastern will take to the court again tomorrow night at 6:30 p.m. MST against the winner of the University of Nebraska at Kearney-Metro State University match. UNK, host of the Southwest Regional, sports a 36-0 record and a No. 1 national ranking heading into tonight’s affair.

Anna Bellum (Sr., OH, Albuquerque, NM/Garden City CC) posted 16 kills in the victory, while Grace George (So., MB, Kaaawa, HI/Kahuka KS) tacked on 12. Kelley McGinty (Sr., OH, Longview, WA/Whatcom CC) posted 10 kills in the victory. Margie Goble (Sr., S, San Antonio, TX/Holmes HS) had 34 assists for Eastern, while Amber McCarthy (Jr., S, Huntington Beach, CA/Orange Coast CC) added 26.

The Zia defense was a huge factor as well, with ENMU posting 14 total team blocks. Schiely led the way with seven, and George and Goble each tacked on five. McGinty led the defense with 23 digs, and McCarthy and Bellum added 16 apiece. McCarthy posted three service aces in the victory.

Stacey Vogel led the way for the Mavericks with 19 kills, with Nikki Green and Drew Choules each adding 17 in a losing effort. Allison Krug had 67 assists for MSC, and Vogel led the way with 20 digs. The Mavs struggled on the serve, though, making 16 service errors in the match, including six in the first game of the night.

In the first game, the Zias took the lead at 3-2 on a Schiely kill, and never relinquished it on the way to a 30-24 victory. Schiely had five kills in the opening game, with Bellum adding four as the Zias outhit MSC .289 to .270.

The second game was much more back-and-forth, but the Zias grabbed a 10-9 lead and held off a late Mesa State charge to grab the 30-27 victory. Trailing 27-21, Mesa got four straight points off Choules’ serve, two of them aces, to draw the game to 27-25. The two teams went back-and-forth the rest of the way, with Schiely finishing off the game with her eighth kill of the frame.

In Game Three, the tide began to turn for the Zias, as the two teams fought neck-and-neck, and neither had a lead of more than three points at any time in the game. After trailing 27-26, Mesa put together two straight points to take a 28-27 lead. ENMU got a kill from George to tie the game at 28, but back-to-back kills by Mesa kept them alive in the match. The Mavs outhit the Zias .277 to .229 in the game.

The fourth game looked all but in the bag for the Zias, as they held leads of 16-9 and 17-10. But Mesa got eight points on its serve and achieved six straight sideouts to hold a 24-23 lead. Eastern then notched five straight points to take a late 28-24 lead, but Mesa took eight of the next 10 points, four on Eastern attacking errors, to triumph in Game Four, 32-30.

Things looked bleak for the Zias in Game Five, as Mesa jumped out to take an 8-5 lead at the break. Eastern slowly clawed its way back, though, gaining ties at 10 and 11. The Zias went up 13-11 following back-to-back kills by Schiely, and traded points with the Mavericks the rest of the way to secure the 15-13 victory.

Eastern fell to Mesa State on Sept. 4 at the season-opening Mesa State Tournament, 3-1 (30-27, 24-30, 26-30, 27-30). Since that point, ENMU has gone 24-6. The Zias have not faced either UNK or Metro State this season.

ENMU fans will be able to listen to Saturday’s action on KSEL-AM 1450 and on the Internet through Eastern’s agreement with TRZ/Teamline. Fans can find a link to the broadcast at www.enmu.edu. Graduate Assistant for Sports Information Matt Brady will have the call beginning 10 minutes prior to the match.