PORTALES, N.M. – UT Tyler opened up a weekend road trip with a 3-0 (25-22, 25-20, 25-21) sweep of Eastern New Mexico on Friday night.
Graduate student Maiya Peña went for eight kills on just 10 swings and added three blocks to help lead UT Tyler to their first sweep in Lone Star Conference play on Friday night. UT Tyler combined Peña's dominant play at the net with a shaky offense performance from the Greyhounds that featured 24 attacking errors from Eastern New Mexico to cruise to the road victory.
The two teams nearly mirrored each other in the statistical metrics for the match as the kill count ended up even at 37-37 and the dig count at 47-47. Eastern New Mexico was unable to manage their mistakes offensively with the 24 attacking errors and UT Tyler out-blocked the Greyhounds by a 7-to-4 margin to ultimately provide the difference in the match.
Peña's dominance certainly had it's effect as she posted an .800 hitting percentage with the eight kills in 10 swings. Sophomore
Brielle Worley added seven kills and setter
Adeline Ortman nearly reached double-double figures with 16 assists and eight kills to highlight the rest of the Patriot output on the evening.
Eastern New Mexico committed 12 errors in the opening frame alone, while the UT Tyler offense needed just six kills to earn a 25-22 set victory. Set two was a much better offensive showing for the Patriot with 14 kills in 35 swings.
UT Tyler hit .314 in that 25-20 second-set victory, and kept the momentum squarely on the shoulders of the Patriots after the slew of mistakes by the Greyhounds in the first set.
The Patriots then totaled a match-high 17 kills in the third and final set and closed out the frame on an 8-3 run to secure their first sweep of Lone Star Conference play.
UT Tyler finished the match with 37 kills on 110 swings to hit .191 for the match.
The Patriots move to 8-6 on the year and 2-1 in Lone Star Conference play.
UT Tyler will remain on the road tomorrow afternoon with a 2 p.m. first serve against Lubbock Christian in Lubbock, Texas.
