Silver City, NM- Western New Mexico University (15-6, 10-3 RMAC) fell to Regis University Rangers (13-9, 10-3 RMAC) Saturday Night, making it Westerns first home loss of the season. Even though it was a tough fought game in each set, Rangers would go on to sweep the Mustangs in three sets (25-22, 25-20, 28-26).
Both teams in the first set did not let the other team get a comfortable lead. A Mustangs lead at 6-4, after a Rangers error, would disappear when Regis scored four points in a row to make the score 8-6. Followed by a kill from Western’s Morgan Lyneis, Mustangs took a 13-11 lead, but a serving ace later from Regis regained the lead at 16-14. With a Rangers lead at 23-18, WNMU would hang in the set by putting up three point in a row, thanks to a couple kills from Leeta Grap and Sheila Menezes. However, this would not by enough as Regis took the set 25-22.
The Rangers did not let WNMU breath by taking a 5-1 lead in the second set. Mustangs trailing at 16-9, would start some momentum as they would score four points in a row thanks to three kills from Heather Verill and Kelli McGhiey and a serving ace from Chyler Imai making the score 16-13. Western did not go away when cutting the deficit to 18-17 after an attack error from Regis. Rangers did not give in as they earned the next 3 of 4 points that made their lead to 22-18 and went on to take the set 25-20.
In the third set, Mustangs jumped to a quick lead at 4-1 with the points coming from an error on Regis, two kills from Lyneis and Verill, and a serving ace from Menezes. WNMU kept things rolling when Menezes served another ace to make a 15-10 lead, but a kill from Ranger’s Maggie Steward would keep things interesting as they cut their lead to 18-16.Verill’s kill gave WNMU a comfortable lead at 24-21 but that did not stop Regis as they would score three points in a row to tie the game at 24-24 after a Imai error. Grap’s kill kept the Mustangs in the game by tying the set 26-26 but this would not be enough as the Rangers would score the next two points to win the game by a kill from Regis’s Steward, to make the score 28-26.
Even with though Western lead in assists (41-39) and digs (46-39), Regis’s .225 percentage would dominate Western’s .170 percentage.
Grap lead the team in kills with 9 followed by Verrill with 8, while Taimane Passi and Imai combined with 33 assists.
The Mustangs hit the road this week to face Colorado School of Mines that will begin at 7 p.m.
