PORTALES, N.M. – Tarleton boasted its best defensive showing of the season as the No. 15 TexAnns held Eastern New Mexico to a (-).035 team hitting performance in a road sweep of the Greyhounds Friday night.
 
The opening set would prove to be the closest as Tarleton (16-4, 8-1 LSC) jumped out to a quick 10-6 lead to force Eastern New Mexico into an early timeout. Out of the break, Eastern pulled within two at 11-9 before Hailey Roberts landed her third kill of the set to start a 10-4 TexAnn run to extend the lead to 21-14.
 
Tarleton scored four of the next seven points, including a set-ending ace by Adrianna Knutson, to take the opening set 25-17.
 
In the second set, the TexAnns carried the momentum of the opening set by jumping out to a 17-7 lead over the first 24 points. Over that span, Eastern New Mexico only scored back-to-back points once while Roberts supplied seven kills in the TexAnns' opening 17 points. Tarleton pushed its lead as large as 22-10 and went on to take the second set 25-15.
 
Eastern New Mexico pushed back over the first 17 points of the third set, pulling to a tie at 4-4 and within one point as deep into the set as 9-8, but Alexis Applewhite landed a kill shot to start Tarleton's final big run of the match.
 
The Applewhite kill was the beginning of a 16-5 run for Tarleton to clinch the set 25-13 and the match 3-0. Over that span, Tarleton didn't allow the Greyhounds to score consecutive points once.
 
Roberts led all players with 18 kills on a .244 hitting percentage while Amber Strange added seven kills and five blocks. Jordyn Keamo dished out a team-high 25 assists while Knutson led the Tarleton defense with 10 digs.
 
The TexAnns will continue to head west for tomorrow's 7 p.m. CST showdown at Western New Mexico.