COMMERCE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team won a hard-fought five-set match against Cameron on Tuesday. The Lions had six hitters finish with 10 or more kills in the match. The set scores were 24-26, 25-20, 25-16, 24-26 and 15-11.
The win brings the Lions to 17-9 on the season and 12-4 in the Lone Star Conference. The Aggies fall to 7-18 and 3-13 in conference play. The Lions swept the season series against Cameron.
The Lions will head out on their longest road trip of the season as they travel to Silver City, N.M. for a match against Western New Mexico. The match will start at 7 p.m. CDT at Drag's Court. The Lions will then face Eastern New Mexico on Saturday at 7 p.m. CDT in Portales.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Lions had six attackers end with double-digit kills, the most of the season.
- Jaslyn Wacker led all hitters with 16 kills with a .316 hitting percentage. She added two blocks and three digs.
- Shelley Chapron had 13 kills with a .400 hitting percentage. She led the team with seven blocks.
- Layne Little had 14 kills, one block and two digs. Neka Nelson had 11 kills and three blocks.
- Mariyah Oliver had 10 kills and four blocks. Preston Lienemann also had 10 kills.
- Gabriela Rosa had 27 assists and 18 digs in the match. Savannah Rutledge led the Lions with 19 digs while Rylie Fuentes led the team with 29 assists.
HOW IT HAPPENEDAfter splitting the first four points of the first set, the Lions took three in a row, including two on kills from Lienemann to take an early 5-2 lead in the set. The Lions held that three-point advantage until the Aggies scored four points in a row to take a 12-11 lead midway through the first set.
Rutledge then had two aces as the Lions regained the lead on a three-point rally. CU responded with a three-point rally of its own. The teams battled back and forth as the Aggies held a 24-22 advantage late. The Lions scored two in a row to tie the set and force extra points. However, CU took the last two points and won the first set 26-24.
The Lions started the second set on fire, scoring six points in a row to take an early 6-1 lead. The Aggies responded with a five-point rally to cut the lead to just one point. A&M-Commerce built its lead back up to three midway through the set before the Aggies scored six points in a row to take a 15-12 lead. The Lions fought back to tie the set at 18-all. A&M-Commerce then went on a rally, scoring six points in a row, including consecutive kills from Nelson to lead 24-18 and a Nelson kill gave them the 25-20 second set win to tie the match.
The Lions quickly built a five-point lead in the third set, including consecutive kills from Wacker. The Lions led 13-7 halfway through the set. The Lions built their lead to as many as 10 behind the swinging of Wacker and Nelson. The Aggies cut the lead to six before A&M-Commerce took the final three points to take the third set 25-16.
The Aggies got out to an early lead in the fourth set. The Lions responded with a four-point rally to take a 9-8 lead. The teams battled back and forth as they traded leads and ties. With the Lions leading 18-16, the Aggies then went on a run, scoring five points in a row to take a 21-18 lead. The Lions then had a three-point rally to tie the set. The Lions went up 23-22 before the Aggies took two in a row to take the lead. Wacker tied the score at 24 to force extra points but CU again responded to take the final two points and force a fifth set, winning set four 26-24.
The Aggies took a 3-1 lead before the Lions answered back to tie the set at 3-all in the early stages of the fifth set. The Lions then took the lead. Leading by one, the Lions took four of the next five points to lead 13-9 late in the set. Nelson had two late kills as the Lions took the deciding set 15-11.
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