STEPHENVILLE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team won its first match of the season, defeating Southwest Baptist in straight sets. After trailing early in the first set, the Lions did not trail for the remainder of the match. The set scores were 25-14, 25-13 and 25-17.
 
In their second match, the Lions fell to No. 18 Central Oklahoma in straight sets. The set scores were 12-25, 18-25 and 20-25. The Lions are now 1-1 on the season.
 
The Lions return to the court on Saturday for two matches. They will face Maryville at 10 a.m. and No. 23 Rockhurst at 3 p.m. All matches will take place at the Wisdom Gym in Stephenville.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Jaslyn Wacker led the Lions with 12 kills in the first match, hitting .588. She had five kills in the first set of the first match. In match two, she recorded four kills and two blocks.
- Neka Nelson finished with 11 kills in the first match, including seven in the second set. She hit .474 and had a block. She added two kills in the second match.
- Layne Little had nine kills, two service aces and 11 digs, hitting .600 in the first match. She had seven kills in the second match.
- Jaryn Wacker had eight kills, three digs and a block in the first match. In the second match, she led the team with 11 kills and a .421 hitting percentage.
- Shelley Chapron and Sydney Reyes each had five kills in the first match. In the second match, Chapron had three kills, Reyes had five, Mariyah Oliver had two and Chassidy Hill and Preston Lienemann each had one.
- Gabriela Rosa had 21 assists to lead the team and also had nine digs in the first match. She had 19 assists in the second match.
Rylie Fuentes had 20 assists in the first match and 13 in the second. Lacie Jessup had a team-high 13 digs in the first match and had 29 digs in the second match.
- The Lions had success hitting in the first match, finishing with an impressive .451 hitting percentage. The team had an astonishing .630 hitting percentage in the first set.
- The Lion defensive wall also had a strong first match. SBU finished with a hitting percentage of just .078 with 17 attack errors. The Lions struggled hitting in the second match, hitting .074.
- After trailing 9-8 in the first set, the Lions did not trail for the rest of the first match. This included 11-consecutive points in their second set win.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED (Match 1)
 
The teams traded the lead back and forth early in the first set. Little had a service ace to start the Lion scoring. Jaslyn Wacker and Reyes both had two kills early in the set to keep the score knotted at eight apiece. Little had another kill to give the Lions a 10-8 lead. After two SBU points to tie the score, the Lions scored five in a row, including another ace from Little and two kills from Jaryn Wacker to take a 15-10 lead midway through the first set.
 
Jaryn Wacker had three consecutive kills for the Lions as they continued to build a lead. It was then Jaslyn Wacker's turn, notching three-straight kills of her own to give the Lions a 10-point lead late in the first set. The Lions won the first set 25-14. Jaslyn Wacker had five kills in the first set while Jaryn Wacker had four. The team had a hitting percentage of .630 in the first set.
 
A&M-Commerce started the set with the first three points to take an early lead. However, SBU came back with three-consecutive points of their own to tie the set early. Nelson had the hot hand early for the Lions, grabbing three kills. With the score at 5-4, the Lions then grabbed 11 points in a row to take a commanding 16-4 lead, which included two kills from each of the Wacker twins and two more from Nelson. After a few hitting errors, Nelson had two more kills to end the set and the Lions took set two 25-13.
 
A&M-Commerce again got out to a quick 3-1 lead in the third set. Nelson continued to hit well in the set, scoring two of the first four points for the Lions. The Lion defense was strong throughout the entire match, forcing attack errors on multiple occasions for SBU. Two kills from Little and a kill from Chapron gave the Lions a 10-5 lead.
 
SBU did not let the third set get away from them early. After trailing by five, they clawed their way back into the set, cutting the Lion lead to just one. However, the Lions would not give up their lead. They built the lead back up with three-straight points to lead 18-13. Chapron had two kills late in the third set and the Lions won 25-17 to sweep the match.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED (Match 2)
 
The teams traded points to start the first set. Jaryn Wacker had two early kills for the Lions to give the Lions an early 3-1 lead. However, UCO began to battle back began to pull away midway through the set, scoring seven of the next eight points to take a 13-7 lead. After A&M-Commerce scored two consecutive, UCO again went on a run and ran away with the set, winning 25-12.
 
The second set was tightly contested for the majority of the set. Jaryn Wacker had three early kills and Little had two as the set was tied early. The teams continued to trade points and the set was tied at 10. After the set was tied at 17-all, UCO flipped the switch, scoring the final six points of the set to win 25-18.
 
The third set went much like the second for the Lions, with UCO pulling away at the end of the set. Kills by Jaryn and Jaslyn Wacker and Layne Little kept the Lions close early in the set. Hitting errors hurt the Lions in the third set. However, the Lion front line cause hitting errors of their own with a multitude of blocks. With the set tied at 16, UCO again went on a run, scoring five of the next six points to take a five-point lead, which they held until the end of the set. UCO won the third set 25-20 to complete the sweep.