Volleyball finishes weekend sweep of Gila Monsters, beating Eastern Arizona 3-2

YUMA, Ariz. – The Arizona Western Matadors (14-5, 6-1) finished off a weekend sweep of Eastern Arizona (13-10, 4-3) with a 3-2 win over the Gila Monsters on Saturday afternoon at the House Gymnasium.

Four Matadors finished the match in double digits in kills, led by Natalia Valencia-Gamboa who had 13 to help the Matadors win their fifth straight match.

The Matadors came out strong, scoring six of the first seven points in the opening set before Eastern Arizona went on a run to tie the set up at 10-10. Eastern took its first lead of the set at 13-12 before pulling away for the 25-22 win in the opening set.

Eastern Arizona took its momentum into the second set, scoring the first two points before a Ma'o Lauhingoa kill put the Matadors on the board. Sevval Aslan put the Matadors in front 9-5 with a kill before Esther Asiedu made it 14-9. The Matadors opened their largest lead in the set on an Eastern attacking error at 23-14 and went on to take the second set 25-18.

Arizona Western took an early 7-4 lead in the third set but Eastern Arizona rattled off four consecutive points to take an 8-7 lead. The Matadors put together a run and forced a Gila Monsters' timeout thanks to a Lauhingoa kill which put the Matadors in front 16-11. The Matadors held off the Gila Monsters to take the third set 25-18.

The Matadors started the fourth set by scoring the first seven points to take a 7-0 lead before Eastern Arizona scored 10 of the next 12 to take lead back. After the Matadors went up 14-13 on a Lauhingoa kill, Eastern Arizona put together four consecutive points to take a 17-14 lead and went on to force a fifth set with a 25-19 win.

Eastern Arizona raced out to an early lead in the fifth set before the Matadors used a run to even the set up at 5-5. The Gila Monsters led 11-9 before an Arizona Western timeout, prior to the Matadors closing out the set and match with a 6-2 scoring run.

Nehir Erimez led the way with 28 assists and Rana Yamada led three Matadors in double figures with 22 digs.

The Matadors head to Coolidge for an ACCAC matchup with Central Arizona on Friday, October 11, at 7:00 pm.