Tarleton State 3, A&M-Commerce 0
Location: The Field House • Commerce, Texas
Records: A&M-Commerce (2-6, 1-5 LSC); Tarleton State (7-5, 3-1 LSC)
Up Next: at Incarnate Word • Thursday, Sept. 22 • 7 p.m.
COMMERCE, Texas – A&M-Commerce wrapped up its three-match home stand at the Field House, dropping a 19-25, 23-25, 21-25 decision to Tarleton State Tuesday evening. The Lions drop to 2-6 on the year and 1-5 in Lone Star Conference play while the TexAnns improve to 7-5 overall and 3-1 in conference.
Breanne Snyder had a solid outing up front for A&M-Commerce, recording 10 kills on 29 attempts with one error for a career-best .429 hitting percentage while adding six digs and a block. Rachel Robertson finished with seven kills and four blocks as well for the Lions.
Ezon Onditi continued her impressive play, finishing with six kills for A&M-Commerce with four digs and a block while Jordan Neal posted 27 assists, three blocks and five digs for the Lions. Dakota Crockett led the way defensively with 10 digs while adding a kill on the night.
A slow start doomed A&M-Commerce in the opening set as Tarleton State used a 12-2 run to build a nine-point advantage at 12-3 and never looked back. The Lions used a 6-0 streak of their own to claw to within three at 12-9, but that was as close as A&M-Commerce would get as the TexAnns outlasted the Lions to take the opener 25-19.
Tarleton State slowly build another lead early in the second set, building a six-point cushion at 18-12. But A&M-Commerce fought back, using a run of its own to tie the match on three separate occasions, the last of which came at 23-23. But a pair of kills from the TexAnns closed out the second set 25-23.
The early part of set three belong to A&M-Commerce as it was the Lions that established a lead early, building a four-point edge at 11-7. But once again, it was the TexAnns that strung together a long rally, using a 9-0 run to take control of set three at 16-11. A&M-Commerce fought back to pull to within two on a two separate occaions, but couldn't dig itself out of the hole, falling to Tarleton State 25-21 in the final set.
What proved to be an Achilles heel all night for A&M-Commerce was service errors as all four of them came following Tarleton State timeouts after the Lions had established momentum.
Flynn Harrell posted a double-double for the TexAnns, finishing with 14 kills and 12 digs with Nikki McNorton adding 11 kills and four blocks.
The Lions now begin a six-match road trip which begins Thursday night in San Antonio against Incarnate Word. A&M-Commerce then travels to deep South Texas, facing A&M-Kingsville on Saturday before stepping out of conference play, participating in the Texas Woman's Tournament in Denton Sept. 30 – Oct. 1.
