ALAMOSA, Colorado — Now on a four-match win streak, the Grizzlies sweep Eastern New Mexico 3 sets to 0 in tonight's home win. The win now puts the Grizzlies at 14-10 (6-4 RMAC).
In tonight's match, the first two sets were very close, with the combined total points only 6. In set 1, the Grizzlies narrowly won 25-23, as it was about as even a set as you can get. Both teams had almost identical kills and errors, with Eastern New Mexico recording 11 kills and 7 errors, and the Grizzlies collecting 13 kills and 6 errors. The Grizzlies' slight edge in set 1 gave them the momentum to win the close set. Set 2 had a similar score, with the Grizzlies winning 25-21, but statistically, there was a larger difference between the teams. In set 2, Eastern New Mexico only recorded 10 kills, while the Grizzlies had 17 kills. Errors were nearly the same again, but the Grizzlies' higher number of total kills gave them the two-set lead. Set 3 was the decisive set, where the Grizzlies dominated by winning 25-16. In this final set, the key difference was errors: Eastern New Mexico committed 12 errors compared to the Grizzlies' 4, making the final set quite one-sided.
Overall, in today's match, the Grizzlies were able to dominate kills, total errors committed, and final hitting percentage. At the end of the match, the Grizzlies finished with 12 more kills, 8 fewer total errors, and a hitting percentage of 0.263 compared to Eastern New Mexico's final hitting percentage of 0.051%. The Grizzlies also finished with 2 more serving aces, 11 more assists, and 11 more digs. It was truly a dominating effort by the Grizzlies in tonight's fourth straight win.
Individually, for the Grizzlies, they were led by Olivia Lunt, Hadleigh Richardson, Mercy Martinez, and Ashlyn Jones. Lunt and Richardson led the way for the Grizzlies in kills, with Lunt finishing with 12 and Richardson finishing with 10. Lunt also collected 4 digs and 1 block, while Richardson collected 1 dig in the match. Looking closer at Martinez and Jones's nights, Martinez led the way for the Grizzlies with 3 serving aces, while Jones finished second for the Grizzlies with 2 serving aces. Martinez and Jones also finished tied with Logan Conlin for the lead in digs tonight, with 6 digs.
The Grizzlies' next match will be tomorrow night at home, as they play Western New Mexico on November 5th, at 6 PM MST. The match will allow the Grizzlies to win their fifth straight match as they look to close out the season on a massive hot streak. The Grizzlies have five matches remaining in the season, with 4 of those matches being conference games, which makes the Grizzlies' staying on their hot streak important as they look to clinch a berth in the RMAC tournament with the regular season coming to a close.
