ODESSA – The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team got its sixth consecutive win Friday night, defeating UT Permian Basin in four sets. The set scores were 25-23, 25-14, 23-25 and 25-18.
 
The win brings the Lions to 19-11 on the season and 13-6 in the Lone Star Conference. UTPB falls to 7-22 and 3-16 in the LSC.
 
The Lions play their final regular season match Saturday against West Texas A&M. The game starts at 7:30 p.m. at The Box in Canyon, Texas.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE 
- The win is the Lions' sixth consecutive win and fourth consecutive road win.
- Taryn Driver led the Lions with 13 kills. Layne Little had 10 kills and Jaryn Wacker had nine.
- Kaitlyn Embrey had 11 kills to lead the Falcons. Rachel Dixon and Caitlyn Guajardo both added six for UTPB.
- A&M-Commerce had nine service aces, including six from Gabriela Rosa.
- The Lions had 55 assists in the game compared to 33 by the Falcons. Rylie Fuentes had 26 assists, putting her six short of 700 for the season. Rosa added 21 assists.
- Ashley Mireles had 16 digs, leaving her just six short of 600 for the season.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED 
The Lions scored four of the first five points in the first set. UTPB answered back with a three-point rally to tie the game at 4. The Falcons took advantage of some early Lion miscues. They went on to score seven of the next eight points, with five of them coming off Lion errors.
 
A&M-Commerce started to clean up their play and clawed their way back into the set. Driver and Little both had three kills in the set to lead the Lions. They scored five of the next seven points to cut the UTPB lead to two points.
 
The teams traded points, with the Falcons holding a narrow lead until the very end. Trailing 23-21, the Lions scored the final four points to take the first set.
 
The Lions scored nine of the first 11 points in the second set, this time taking advantage of UTPB errors. Driver had two early kills in the rally.
 
Jaryn Wacker and Driver both caught fire in the second set. They each had four kills. Wacker had three kills in the space of four serves as the Lions had another rally, again scoring nine of 11 points.
 
They led by as many as 12 in the set and took the second set 25-14.
 
The Lions came out swinging in the third set. They scored six of the first seven points, including three consecutive aces by Rosa. But UTPB made their own rally to score five-unanswered points to knot the game at 6.
 
The teams traded runs and leads throughout the set. The Falcons went on a seven-point rally midway through the set, led by two service aces by Sabrina Williams and four Lion errors.
 
But the Lions wouldn't go down without a fight. They had a three-point run and a six-point run to tie the game at 20-all. Rosa again made her mark as a server, getting three aces in the space of four serves. However, UTPB made enough plays in the final points of the set to take the third set 25-23.
 
UTPB brought the momentum they had gained into the start of the fourth set. They scored six of the first eight points, led by Guajardo on the attack. She had two kills and a service ace in the early onset of the fourth set.
 
The Lions started to rally from there. They scored seven of the next eight points. Jaryn Wacker had two kills in that rally and four overall in the final set.
 
The teams traded points until the score was knotted up at 14-all. The Lions again proceeded to go on a run. Shantel Norton had four kills in the final set, pushing the Lions to a 20-17 lead. A&M-Commerce would go on to score five of the final six points, including three consecutive kills by Driver. They won the final set 25-18