COMMERCE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team defeated Western New Mexico in four sets Friday night, giving the Lions their fourth consecutive victory. The set scores were 17-25, 25-18, 25-15 and 25-21.
 
The win brings the Lions to 16-11 and 11-6 in the Lone Star Conference. The Mustangs fall to 16-11 and 8-8 in conference play.
 
The Lions return to the court Saturday afternoon as they take on Eastern New Mexico. The match will begin at 2 p.m. at The Field House with a recognition for the senior class in its final home game at The Field House.

"This was a great win for us tonight. WNMU is a really good team, well coached, and they have a long tradition of volleyball excellence," said A&M-Commerce head volleyball coach Craig Case. "So to be able to split with them during the regular season is a great step for our program. With their size and athleticism I am really pleased with our defense tonight and to really slow them down in sets 2, 3, and 4. To slow down such a good team is a great sign for us moving forward."

"Balance was the key to our offense again, tonight.  We've built this team to be a team that can score from all six rotations and when we're doing that we're a tough team to beat.  I thought Layne (Little), Taryn (Driver), and Jaryn (Wacker) did a great job in clutch situations tonight.  While at the same time I was really pleased with what Jaslyn (Wacker) and Sydney (Reyes) were able to do tonight with limited swings." 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Lions have won four consecutive matches, their second longest winning streak of the season. It ties their longest winning streak in conference games for this season.
- The Lions had three players with double-digit kills. Layne Little led the team with 14 kills with a hitting percentage of .343. Taryn Driver had 13 kills and Jaryn Wacker had 12 for A&M-Commerce.
- Little had three service aces and Jaslyn Wacker and Savannah Rutledge each had two. The Lions had eight aces overall, their 10th consecutive game with at least six aces. The Lions did not allow an ace in the match.
- Rylie Fuentes had 28 assists and Gabriela Rosa added 26 for the Lions. Ashley Mireles led the team with 21 digs.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 The Lions fell behind early in the first set. After trading points for the first six serves of the match, the Mustangs rattled off seven of the next eight points. Hitter Morgan Lyneis had two early kills to give WNMU a 10-4 lead.
 
Jaryn Wacker had two kills in the next three points to keep the Lions close but the Mustangs again turned on the heat. They scored the next three points to push their lead to eight.
 
The Lions attack started to heat up in the middle of the first set. Jaslyn Wacker had two kills as part of a four-point rally to cut the Mustang lead to four.
 
The Mustangs bounced back to take seven of the next nine points to put the set out of reach. They won the first set 25-17.
 
The Wacker sisters were both strong in the first set, notching four kills each. Jaslyn Wacker added a service ace for the Lions.
 
A&M-Commerce took advantage of some Mustang miscues in the start of the second set. WNMU had three ball handling errors and the Lions jumped out to a quick 7-1 lead.
 
The Mustangs went on a three-point burst to climb back into the set but the Lions responded with a rally of their own as Shantel Norton had two kills in the early part of the set.
 
The teams traded points through the remainder of the set. The Mustangs would chip into the lead before the Lions brought their lead back. A&M-Commerce led by as many as eight, aided by three service aces in the set.
 
Driver was red hot in the second set, recording five kills overall, including the final point that gave the Lions a 25-18 win to tie up the match.
 
The Lions went on a tear to start the third set. Little had four kills in the early going while Driver and Norton each had two. The Lions had their largest lead of the match to that point, going up 13-1 to start. The Lions led by as many as 14 in the third set.
 
The Mustangs went on a three-point run but the Lions responded back with a four-point rally. Not to be denied, WNMU answered back with a five-point rally, aided by Lion hitting errors.
 
The Lions closed the door on a comeback, responding again by taking six of the next eight points to put the set out of reach. The Lions won the third set 25-15.
 
The Lions started hot again in the fourth set. They scored nine of the first 12 points in the set. The Mustangs tried to make a game of it at the end of the fourth set. While trailing by seven, they scored seven of the next eight points to cut the Lion lead to 22-20. Six of those points came off of Lion hitting errors.
 
The Lions responded to take three of the last four points to win the set 25-21. Little had six kills overall in the fourth set and Jaryn Wacker added five to give the Lions the set win and the match.