Lady Matadors lose early lead, fall at home to rival Eastern Arizona

YUMA, Ariz. - It was a festive atmosphere in "The House" for the top 20 volleyball showdown between ACCAC rivals #20 Arizona Western College and #18 Eastern Arizona. Both teams entered the contest undefeated in conference play and both teams were riding long winning streaks. Arizona Western came into the contest winners of their last six matches in a row and Eastern Arizona was riding a four-game winning streak. The Lady Matadors took the first two sets but fell in the next three (26-24, 27-25, 23-25, 17-25, 10-15) as Eastern Arizona completed the come from behind road victory. 

"The girls started out really strong and worked through some adversity," Arizona Western Head Coach Lorayne Chandler said. "In sets four and five I think they just let too many small mental errors get in the way of the win."

With the loss the Lady Matadors fall to 8-2 overall on the season and 2-1 in conference play. Eastern Arizona extends its win streak to five in a row and improves to 11-6 overall and 4-0 in ACCAC play.

"A perk with this is we played five sets, we've had that opportunity," Chandler said. "So, the next time we have five sets, it's nice to get the first one out of the way and the girls get to know what that feels like as we head into the season. Just making sure we're conditioned and work really hard for two and a half to three hours. That's not easy to do so we have to make sure that they are energized for that long of a match."

Arizona Western will next be on the road when they travel to Glendale Community College next Wednesday, September 24th, before returning home with back-to-back dates with Yavapai at "The House" next Friday and Saturday.