It only took about one hour for the WNMU Mustangs to wrangle up the CSU – Pueblo ThunderWolves Friday night. The Mustangs won easily, 3-0 (26-24, 25-13, 25-10). WNMU is now 2-1 in conference and 4-7 overall. Pueblo drops to 1-2 in the RMAC and 3-8 overall.

There were 14 ties and eight lead changes in the first set, but much of that was because of poor hitting by the Mustangs. As a team, there were 10 attacking errors and only 11 kills. WNMU got back on track in set two though and pounded 12 kills to only two errors. Nearly half of the kills were by Ziona Verhulsdonk (Kailua, HI, Hawaii Preparatory Academy). She recorded five kills and no errors in the lone set.

Set three was all Mustangs. Senior Ellen East (Pomerene, AZ, Benson High School, Yavapai Community College) served the first eight points to jump ahead 8-0. East never had the opportunity to serve after that. The remaining five players took care of things. Jovan Falemalu (Laie, HI, Kahuku High School), Marilee Frost (Long Beach, CA, Robert A. Millikan High School), and Schalicia Degase (Truth or Consequences, NM, Hot Springs High School) all served at least four times. The Mustang defense limited the ThunderWolves to -.241 hitting percentage in set three.

Overall, Pueblo had 25 kills and 25 errors in the match. WNMU finished with 35 kills and 17 errors. Leading the way was junior Natali Murdock (Phoenix, AZ, Pinnacle High School) and Verhusldonk. Each tallied 10 kills. Murdock chipped in with three service aces.

East was credited with 22 assists. Frost finished with 15 digs.

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