STEPHENVILLE– The No. 2 seed Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team won a five-set match against No. 7 seed Western New Mexico on Thursday afternoon in the first round of the Lone Star Conference postseason tournament. The Lions fell behind 2-1 but rallied to win the final two sets to advance to the second round. The set scores were 21-25, 25-23, 13-25, 25-23 and 15-9.
 
The win brings the Lions to 21-10 on the season and they advance to the second round of the LSC Tournament. The Mustangs fall to 9-20 on the season and are eliminated from tournament play. The Lions advance to the second round for the first time since the 2013 season.
 
The Lions will face No. 6 seed Texas Woman's on Friday, after TWU upset third seed and top-25 opponent Angelo State in four sets earlier in the day. The match between A&M-Commerce and TWU will be played at 5 p.m. at the Wisdom Gym in Stephenville. The winner will advance to the LSC Championship match on Saturday.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Layne Little led the Lions attack, posting 18 kills with a hitting percentage of .273. She also had two aces and five digs in the match.
- Neka Nelson had 12 kills, hitting .281.
- LSC Newcomer of the Year Shelley Chapron had 11 kills with three blocks, hitting .381 overall.
- LSC Academic Player of the Year Jaslyn Wacker added 10 kills and two blocks.
- Rylie Fuentes led the team with 32 assists and had an ace. Gabriela Rosa added 22 assists and had 11 digs.
- Savannah Rutledge led the team with 21 digs and had two aces. Lacie Jessup had 17 digs.
- The Lions advance to the second round of the LSC Tournament for the first time since 2013.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a back and forth battle early in the first set. The Mustangs built a two point lead on multiple occasions but the Lions battled back to tie the set at four all-early. The Lions then went on a three-point run to take their first lead of the match. There were seven early ties in the match as the teams were locked up at 11 halfway through the set.
 
The Mustangs then went on a run, putting together six consecutive points to take a 17-11 lead. WNMU pushed its lead to as many as seven points before the Lions responded with a run. Trailing 21-14, A&M-Commerce scored three points in a row to cut the lead back down. It was part of a 5-1 run that brought the Mustang lead to just three points. However, the Lions could not cut through the deficit and fell in the first set 25-21.
 
The Mustangs jumped out to another lead early in the second set, winning the first three points. The Lions battled back to tie the set at 6-all. The Lions then went on a run. Rutledge had two aces in a row to give the Lions a 9-7 lead. Nelson had back-to-back kills as the teams continued to battle. Halfway through the set, the Lions held a 13-12 lead.
 
Trailing 16-15, the Lions went on a run, taking five points in a row, including two kills from Mariyah Oliver and a kill and an ace from Little as the Lions built their largest lead of the match to that point at 20-16. WNMU battled back to take the next three points to keep the set from getting away and tied the set at 21. The score was tied once again at 22 and at 23. Two late errors from WNMU gave the Lions the second set win at 25-23.
 
It continued to be an evenly matched battle to begin the third set as the teams split eight points. WNMU then scored three points in a row to take an early lead. The Lions battled back to within one before WNMU built its lead up again, scoring seven points in a row to lead 18-9. The Mustang lead was built to as many as 12 as the set got away from the Lions and WNMU won the set 25-13.
 
The Lions responded with a strong start to the fourth set, winning four of the first five points. Little had two early kills in the rally. With the Mustangs trailing 7-4, WNMU then went on a run, scoring six points in a row to take a three-point lead of their own. The Lions battled back to tie the set at 13-all.
 
A&M-Commerce then went on a run. With the set tied at 14-all, the Lions scored six of the next seven points, with two kills coming from Chapron. Trailing by five late, the Mustangs scored five of the next six points to bring the score to 24-23. However, the Lions scored the final point to win the set 25-23, taking the match to a deciding fifth set.
 
After the teams split the first four points, the teams traded two-point rallies. Neither team wanted to go home early from the tournament as the teams were tied again at five and six. The Lions then started to pull away, scoring four points in a row to lead 10-6. The Lions continued to pile on as Little had four kills in the set, including two of the final three points and the Lions won the fifth set 15-9 to win the match.