Trust the process.

That was the mantra during practice this week for the Sul Ross State volleyball team.

On Friday night, the Lobos fought hard and did not disappoint during their home opener as they defeated the St. Edward's Hilltoppers in four sets, 23-25, 25-20, 25-19, 25-23, at the Pete P. Gallego Center.

This marks the first win for first-year head coach Annika Canaba. It is also the first win over a Division II opponent.

The Lobos also became the first team to notch a win over a Lone Star Conference opponent this fall.

>> HOW IT HAPPENED:

The Hilltoppers came away with an early 9-4 lead in the opening set.

Sul Ross State used a 3-0 run to cut the deficit to two points as Tatyana Colon had a service ace and Cassandra Espinoza tallied a kill.

From that point on, it was a back and forth affair before the Lobos used a 5-0 run to take a 20-19 lead.

Natalie Hernandez had two kills during the run.

St. Edward's answered back with a 3-0 run to take a 22-20 lead.

The Lobos managed to get within one, but the Hilltoppers got a kill from Mia Clay to secure the first-set victory.

Sul Ross State was down 3-1 early in the second set until it went on a 4-0 run to take the lead. Sarah Chavez and Angelli Sanchez tallied a pair of kills.

The Hilltoppers ended up tying the score at five-all, but the Lobos surged ahead with a 4-0 run that included two kills from Sarah Chavez and Edie Coleman.

Capitalizing on some Hilltopper attack errors, the Lobos extended their lead to 13-7.

Espinoza tallied the final three kills of the set to tie up the match.

The Lobos were up 14-8 in the middle of the third set. Sul Ross State never trailed in the set as it went ahead 23-16 after a pair of kills by Chavez and Sanchez.

Sanchez slammed down the final kill of the set to give the Lobos a 2-1 lead in the match.

St. Edward's tied up the score at 10-all in the middle of the fourth set. The Lobos then went on a 4-0 run to take the lead.

The Hilltoppers tied the score twice more until the Lobos pulled ahead using a 3-0 run.

St. Edward's managed to get to within one point, but a service error helped give the Lobos the match point.

>> RECORDS: Sul Ross State (1-6, 1-0); St. Edward's (8-5, 0-2)

 >> GAME NOTES:

• Hernandez tallied a game-high 19 kills.
• Hernandez leads the Lobos with 74 kills.
• Espinoza had 15 kills.
• Eliana Mata had a double-double with 48 assists and 12 digs.
• Mata now has 178 assists this season.
• Sanchez finished with nine kills and five digs.
• Chavez added with eight kills.
• Coleman led the way with four block assists while also tallying six kills.
• Coleman leads the defense with 13 block assists.
• Brylee Sweeten had 13 digs and three assists.
• Colon served up two aces and had 12 digs.
• Miranda Acosta led the defense with 22 digs.
• Emily Scott finished with 17 digs.

>> WHAT THE COACH SAID:

"Just being there for each other and having confidence in each, trusting each other. We're going to have our ups and downs, but we just have to trust the process and that it's going to all work out in the end. I'm super excited. I was waiting for this one to come up because we were losing and losing. It was exciting to finally get over that hump. Hopefully now we can continue that." — Head coach Annika Canaba on trusting the process

"Our defense was really scrappy. They hustled everywhere, we got a lot of balls up and that definitely helps our offense out. Lala (Eliana Mata) does a great job of distributing the ball. I think they're starting to get their confidence back. I think at first, they were a little bit nervous. Now they're starting to gain confidence and starting to realize that they're just as capable as anybody else in this conference." — Head coach Annika Canaba on the keys to the victory

>> WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID:

"We've been grinding it out at practice and it really showed. This game was huge for us. We took it completely seriously. I think that our perseverance really made a cut in this game. We didn't let that first loss take us anywhere. Our hustle plays made all of the difference. We had so much energy and momentum. It's something we feed on. Our energy plays a big part in our game. Nothing is handed to us on a silver platter, so we're trying to work for it. Every day we're just going to try to get one percent better every single day." — Natalie Hernandez

"It's awesome. We were 0-6, but we've been fighting. To finally finish, we pulled through with the win. I'm so proud of coach Annika and I'm proud of us girls. We've been working on speeding up our offense and it showed today." — Eliana Mata

>> UP NEXT: The Lobos host St. Mary's at 2 p.m. CST on Saturday, Sept. 28.