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Greyhound volleyball splits first two matches in San Marcos

SAN MARCOS, Calif. — Two matches and eight games in on the west coast, and Eastern New Mexico started its season with a split right down the middle.

The Greyhounds won their opener Friday morning at the Cal State San Marcos Cougar Classic against Saint Martin’s, but the afternoon wasn’t as kind as Azusa Pacific took a four-set victory over the green and silver.

The Greyhounds had two more games scheduled for Saturday, in the early afternoon against Bentley and later that evening against tournament host Cal State San Marcos.

Against Saint Martin’s: Junior Jasmine Gannon and senior Sarah Tuioti-Mariner led the way, combining for 27 kills in an overall balanced effort for the offense. Gannon led the way with 15 kills and a .262 hitting percentage with just five errors. Tuioti-Mariner, returning from last season’s knee injury, had 11 kills and four of the Greyhounds’ 12 service aces.

The team got seven kills each from Adriana Puni and Christelle Kialanda, along with five from Lauren Bresnahan. Sophomore Rae Sapiga tied a career high with 27 assists.

The Greyhounds jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the second set, following a 25-22 win, but struggled to put the Saints away. Eastern had four opportunities at match point, only to see Saint Martin’s ward all of them off and end the set on a 3-0 run punctuated by Mackenzie Carter’s winning service ace.

Eastern pulled away with an 11-2 run in the third set, and opened the fourth set with a 6-1 advantage. A 5-0 run featuring kills from Kialanda and Gannon and three Saints errors made it 22-12, and it was smooth sailing from there.

Kylie Coon led the Saints with 16 kills, while Carter had 14.

Against Azusa Pacific: The Cougars took advantage of an out-of-sync Greyhound attack, which only netted 12 kills through the first two sets.

Eastern rallied from a 15-7 deficit for a win in the third, but never led in the fourth after the Cougars wiped out an early 2-0 ENMU lead.

Gannon had nine kills to lead the Greyhounds, while Julie Tucker added six. Rae Sapiga and younger sister, freshman Qitana Sapiga, each had 16 assists, two aces and eight digs.

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