A&M-Kingsville 3, A&M-Commerce 2
Location: The Field House – Commerce, Texas
Records: A&M-Kingsville (9-8, 2-3 LSC); A&M-Commerce (11-3, 2-2 LSC)
Up Next: vs. Angelo State – Wednesday, Oct. 9th 5:00 p.m. – The Field House

COMMERCE, Texas – The Lions started off well with a first set win then A&M-Kingsville started to wake up in the second set and eventually pulled out the five set win at The Field House.

The Lions came out well in the first half to the tune of an 11-5 lead. The lead lengthen to as many as 11 at 24-13 before the Javelinas scored thee straight to make the Lions sweat a little. The Lions closed out the set at 25-16 off a kill from Ciara Holmes.

The second saw the Javelinas jump out to an early lead at 10-5. The Lions battled back to tie the set at 12 all off a service error by Kingsville. The play was back and worth then on with no team leading by more than three. A&M-Kingsville got the score to 22-20 then Lions score back-to-back points to tie from Amy Davault and Taryn Driver. The Lions had set point at 25-24 then a service error from Li'I Etamni tied the score back at 25 all. Dedra Brown then got two kills for A&M-Kingsville to win the set, 27-25.

"We let up a little in the second set and we stopped focusing on what we needed to be successfull and we started playing one-on-one volleyball all over the place", said Head Coach Craig Case post game. 

In set number three the Lions were able to get some distance from the Javelinas early then saw their lead get cut to one at 18-17 off a kill by Stephanie Johns. The Lions then used a five nothing run to take a 23-17 lead before the Javelinas tied the score at 23 off a Lion attack error. With the score tied at 23, the Javelinas committed two straight errors to give the Lions a 25-23 set win and a two sets to one advantage.
Set four saw a balanced affair through the first 24 points and the score being tied at twelve. Then the Javelinas started to get things rolling; going on a 13-5 run to take the fourth set, 25-17, and force a decisive set five. 

The fifth and final set was back and forth to say the least. The set saw 15 ties and seven lead changes. A&M-Kingsville had the lead at 8-7 when the two teams switched sides of a kill from Johns. The Lions tied the set at eight off a block from Jordan Neal. The score was tied at 10,11, 12 and 13 then A&M-Kingsville had match point at 14-13 before Kayla Bond tied the score with a kill at 14. The Lions then had match point themselves at 15-14 after another kill by Bond but Brown came back to A&M-Kingsville to tie the score once again. A&M-Commerce then had match points at 16-15, and 17-16 before the Javelinas scored thee straight to get the set win and the match win.

Neal, Davault, Bond and Breanna Snyder all recorded double-doubles on the afternoon but the Lions were unable to side out consistently enough after the first set. The Lions percentage dropped from 82% in set one to 45% in set four before rebounding to 63% in the fifth set. The 45 errors the Lions recorded on the afternoon did not help either including nine on serve.

Case continued, "I thought we executed ok offensively, we did not hit great towards the end but defeinsively we just did not execute." 

A&M-Commerce returns to court on Wednesday to face #7 Angelo State at 5 p.m. at The Field House. The Rambelles will be coming off a four set loss to the #11 West Texas Lady Buffs.