Volleyball team falls to Eastern New Mexico University in season opener

The volleyball team competed in its first conference home game versus Eastern New Mexico University on Sept. 7. The team lost 3-0 with the first set scoring at 25-27, the second 17-25 and the third 21-25.

“We just weren’t finishing, there was just a lack of persistence and competitiveness,” Jaycie Fuller, biology sophomore said. “We let loose in the middle a little bit and we should’ve capitalized and beat that team. We’re still getting used to the new coach and to each other. It’s difficult, but we’re moving in the right direction.”

Valerie Armstrong, head volleyball coach, said the team still has some skills to work on, but there are also many strengths that will benefit the team in games to come.

“We did all right on serve receive and we’ve got a lot of good pieces,” Armstrong said. “We’re just young and we’ll get there. It’s just one game at a time, one point at a time and if we can get better each day we’re going to be in good shape. We have to work on our hitting efficiency and  being overall disciplined on defense and execute on offense. We have a good size block so we just have to utilize that and we do have some quickness.”

Niko McWilliams, business sophomore, said though the team was behind throughout the majority of the game it didn’t stop the crowd from cheering and bringing positive energy to the game.

“It was good. I thought the energy was very good from the players even though they were behind. They always work hard to come back, and it was fun to watch.” McWilliams said.

Addison Semer, art senior, said the players brought good energy and the players performed well despite losing.

“I felt like it was a good game,” Semer said. “It was a sad loss but it was good to see how they were starting their season off and what was different and it felt like there was better energy and more people here.”