Zias win in Five Sets over NHMU
Four Zias Finish with Double-Digit Kills
Sep. 14, 2004

PORTALES, N.M. — The Eastern New Mexico University volleyball team improved to 5-2 on the season with a five-set victory (27-30, 30-21, 28-30, 30-22, 15-9) over New Mexico Highlands University (2-6) Tuesday, Sept. 14 at Greyhound Arena. Four Zias made double-digit kills in the match, as the Zias hit .219 as a team for the match.

Anna Bellum (Sr., OH, Albuquerque, NM/Garden City CC) led ENMU with 20 kills, and Lindsay Schiely (Jr., MB, Portland, OR/Clackamas CC) posted 16 of her own in the match. Grace George (So., MB, Kaaawa, HI/Kahuku HS) led ENMU regulars with a .375 attack percentage on her 11 kills, and Emilie Rodman (Sr., MB, Gillette, WY/Western Wyoming CC) put down 12 kills to go with only 5 errors.

Margie Goble (Sr., S, San Antonio, TX/Holmes HS) posted 51 assists for the match, the second straight match in which she has posted 50 or more assists. Jessica Weeks (Sr., LIB, Brownwell, KS/Garden City CC), who recently was named Lone Star Conference South Defensive Player of the Week, made 26 digs in the victory.

In the fifth and deciding game, the Zias went back and forth with the Cowgirls, falling behind at 7-6. But ENMU then ran off five straight points, three of which came on attack errors by NMHU sophomore Audra Williams. The Zias capitalized on that, getting a pair of kills by Rodman to put the game out of reach.

The Zias controlled the play for the majority of the fourth game, but NMHU came storming back to trim the lead to 19-15. The Zias put down three straight kills to regain control of the match at 22-15, the last of which was made by Weeks on a back-row attack that dropped just inside the near sideline. Bellum finished off the game with a kill to knot the match at two games apiece.

Eastern held a 17-11 lead midway through the third game, but the Cowgirls steadily closed the gap, eventually taking the lead at 28-27. Williams put the game away for NMHU with a pair of kills to give the visitors a two games to one lead.

The Cowgirls took advantage of several ENMU miscues to take game one, 30-27. But the Zias came storming back in the second game, leading from start to finish and took the game 30-21.

ENMU plays again this weekend in the LSC/Heartland Crossover Tournament, when they will take on St. Mary’s University, St. Edward’s University and the University of the Incarnate Word. Eastern is home again next Tuesday, Sept. 21, when it plays host to Wayland Baptist College.