Silver City, NM- The Western New Mexico volleyball team hosted Fort Lewis College Saturday night. Going into Homecoming weekend, FLC (4-12, 1-7 RMAC) gave WNMU (14-3, 9-0 RMAC) a solid challenge by taking the game to five sets. The Mustangs came out on top (22-25, 25-14, 25-20, 20-25, 15-7), remaining undefeated in Conference and keeping their nine game winning streaks alive.
WNMU’s Leeta Grap scored the first two points from kills; give the Mustangs a 2-0 lead. Fort Lewis College took an early lead, scoring four points in a row making the score 4-2. Skyhawks Ashley Mateala served an ace that would keep the momentum going, giving them a 15-8 lead. Because of a serving error from Fort Lewis College, Western came within a two point deficit making the score 21-19. A kill by Mustangs’ Shannon Rich made the score 24-22, but FLC came back with a their own kill taking the set 25-22.
Two kills from Grap and an error would help the WNMU take a 3-0 lead. A serving error from Mustangs Barbara Soranzo would tie the game 7-7, but the Lady Mustangs would answer back with 4 straight points and a kill from Rich making the score 11-7. Western kept rolling by scoring six points in a row, thanks to a few kills and two serve aces by Melanie Hughes to take make the lead 18-8. A bad set by the Skyhawks would give the set to the Mustangs 25-14.
The Lady Mustangs maintained a steady lead at 15-9, after a kill by Grap. Even though a kill from FLC’s Delaney Scanlan to make a score of 21-19, WNMU would go on to take the set 25-20 after a Grap kill.
Jumping to a 7-5 lead by the Mustangs, the Skyhawks hung around in the fourth set. After an attack error from Morgan Lyneis, Fort Lewis College took a lead at 16-14. WNMU however, snatch backed the lead at 19-18, thanks to a FLC attack error. The Skyhawks would not go away by taking the last seven of the eight points to win and end the set 25-20.
In the fifth set, the Lady Mustangs would score four points in a row, to make a 5-3 lead. From a kill by Heather Verrill, WNMU would not rest making the score 13-5 and went on to win the set 15-7.
The Mustangs had an incredible total percentage of .353 while limiting FLC to -.043. WNMU’s had a total of 86 digs compared to FLC’s 69 digs. Grap would lead the team in kills with 19, followed by Barbara Soranzo with 10 kills.
Saturday night was a nail-biter, but as Leeta Grap says, “team energy and chemistry” is what gave them the win. Going five sets was not terrible for the Mustangs. “…This was definitely a good thing…to come together as a team.”
The Lady Mustangs next match is away against UC-Colorado Springs Friday night.
