WICHITA FALLS— The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team lost in five sets on the road Tuesday to Midwestern State University.
 
Although the first two sets were close, MSU took them both. The Lions responded by taking the next two sets before losing in the final set. Set scores were 23-25, 21-25, 25-17, 25-22, 9-15.
 
The Lions fall to 12-10 on the season and 6-5 in the Lone Star Conference. MSU jumps to 10-12 and 4-7 in the LSC.
 
The Lions return home for a two-match homestand over the weekend, beginning with LSC foe Tarleton State on Friday. The match is at 6 p.m. at The Field House.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Junior Neka Nelson tied her career-high in kills with 15 to lead the Lions. Senior Taryn Driver had 12 kills and Jaslyn Wacker had 11.
- Gabriela Rosa had 24 assists to lead the Lions. Rylie Fuentes had 23 assists to go along with 15 digs. Ashley Mireles had 27 digs to lead A&M-Commerce.
- Meghan Bettis had 17 kills for MSU, including 10 in the third set. Aerielle Edwards had 16 kills and 12 digs. Kristan Aduddell had 51 of MSU's 60 assists.
- There were a total of 19 service aces in the game. Mireles had four for the Lions. Bettis and Edwards each had two for MSU, while Christy Carruth had three.
- Both teams had difficulties with ball control. The Lions had 30 errors, including 26 attacking errors. MSU had 32 errors, including nine service errors. There were a total of 19 errors in the second set, 12 of which came from MSU.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions fell behind quickly in the first set, behind four consecutive points from the Mustangs. The Lions fought back to even the score early behind a pair of service aces from Rosa.
 
The Mustangs answered right back with another run early, scoring the next seven points, including two aces of their own to take a 12-5 lead.  They pushed their lead to as many as nine in the first set.
 
The Lions started their comeback midway through the set. Taking advantage of some Mustang miscues, the Lions at one point scored eight of nine points to cut the lead to two. Driver came in and had four kills to put the Lions right back into the thick of the match. The Mustangs had three service errors in the early part of the first set.
 
The Lions traded points with the Mustangs before going on another run, taking their first lead of the set, 21-20 on an ace by Lacie Jessup and a kill by Nelson. The Mustangs wouldn't quit and rallied to win the first set 25-23.
 
Neither team jumped out to an early advantage in the second set with no consecutive streak of points higher than three. The teams traded mini runs early, with the Mustangs holding a slight lead midway through the second set.
 
Driver and Jaslyn Wacker swung hard to notch points for A&M-Commerce and keep the game within reach. Errors by both teams continued the trend of exchanging points, with the Mustangs holding a 20-19 lead in the latter parts of the set.
 
The errors finally caught up to the Lions and they could not capitalize on the errors of MSU, falling too far behind to make a comeback. They lost the second set 25-21.
 
The Lions found their stride in the third set, taking their largest lead of the match, scoring nine consecutive points to jump out to a 13-5 lead. Mireles had two aces as part of the run and the Mustangs had three consecutive attacking errors.
 
Bettis had 10 kills, including three consecutive to lead the Mustangs, but she received little help in the third set.
 
The Mustangs made a mini run to cut the lead to seven but the Lions clamped down and were aided by multiple errors. They led by as many as 11. The Mustangs tried to make a comeback, cutting the lead to six but the Lions scored the last two points to take the third set 25-17.
 
The Mustangs regained the momentum early in the fourth set, scoring six of the first seven points. Nelson had three quick kills midway through the fourth set as part of a five-point rally by the Lions to cut the Mustang lead to just one at 10-9.
 
After an MSU timeout, they attempted to stop the Lion rally, but Nelson had another kill and the Lions clawed their way out of the hole to take a 13-12 lead in the fourth set. Driver also had her share of kills to keep the Mustangs at bay.
 
The Mustangs made a late comeback to tie the game at 22, scoring three consecutive points. The Lions responded to take the last three points to grind out the fourth set, winning 25-22. Nelson had six kills in the set, while Driver had four.
 
The deciding fifth set was back and forth to start. Each team had a three point run but midway through the set, the teams were knotted at seven. The Mustangs started to take control of the final set, scoring the next five points. The Lions were unable to make up the difference and lost the final set 15-9.