DENTON, Texas (Nov. 4, 2016) – Sara Oxford provided a blistering performance for Texas Woman's University at the net with her 19 kills and five blocks, but the Pioneers fell in four sets (23-25, 29-27, 23-25, 10-25) to Eastern New Mexico Friday night inside Kitty Magee Arena.
 
Oxford committed her first and only error of the evening in the fourth set to finish with a .450 attack percentage. Anna McGee recorded nine kills, Katy Ranes handed out 38 assists and Makayla Mayfield handled 16 digs. The conference loss positions the Pioneers in ninth place within the league as three matches remain. TWU now trails Midwestern State by a single game for the final spot in the eight-team Lone Star Conference tournament.
 
Back-to-back kills by Oxford in the first set handed TWU (8-18, 4-13 LSC) their first lead of the evening and a kill by Emma Petolick put the Pioneers up 12-9. Four straight points by the Greyhounds (16-10, 11-5 LSC) flipped the lead, but a block by Briley Cole and Courtney Noel knotted the frame at 14-all. McGee tied the set at 22-22 but an ENMU shot to the endline produced set point. A cross-court kill by Haley Collins made it 24-23 contest before a Greyhound kill finished the set.
 
Set two was a battle as neither team held more than a two-point lead throughout. Oxford broke a 20-20 tie with a kill and ENMU hit into the net for a 22-20 TWU advantage. The Greyhounds climbed back on top with three kills and a block before Collins sent a kill off of the blockers to close the gap to 24-23. Oxford teamed up with Cole and then Collins for consecutive blocks to give the Pioneers a 25-24 lead. The squads went back and forth up until 27-27 when Oxford delivered a kill on a slide and McGee and Oxford rejected a Greyhound attack at the net for the two-point victory.
 
TWU took its first lead in set three at 13-12 following an ENMU attack error but fell behind at 17-16. Three more Greyhound attack errors and a kill by McGee pushed the Pioneers ahead, 20-17, but ENMU then countered with a 6-2 run to sneak ahead at 23-22. A kill by Noel down the line tied the score, but a Greyhound kill preceded a misplaced Pioneer attack to conclude the set.
 
ENMU began set four on a 10-2 run and never looked back. The Greyhounds tallied 15 kills within the set compared to three from TWU. A Kerstin Jenkins kill set the score at 20-7, but the Pioneers were unable to close the gap any further, leading to the ENMU win.
 
The Pioneers compete in their home finale Saturday at 2 p.m. and will be honoring Mary Kate Hyde, Anna McGee and Sara Oxford as they play in their last contest inside Kitty Magee Arena.