DENTON– The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team lost in straight sets to Texas Woman's University on Tuesday. The set scores were 17-25, 17-25 and 23-25.
 
The loss brings the Lions to 6-6 on the season and 2-1 in Lone Star Conference play. The Pioneers jump to 4-7 on the year and 2-1 in conference play.
 
The Lions will return to the court on Saturday with a road conference match against Texas A&M-Kingsville. The match will be played at 2 p.m. at the Gil E. Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Layne Little and Jaryn Wacker both had six kills to lead the Lions.
- Shelley Chapron and Jaslyn Wacker both had five kills. Neka Nelson and Sydney Reyes had four kills each and Mariyah Oliver had a kill.
- Lacie Jessup led the Lions with 13 digs. Savannah Rutledge had nine digs and Gabriela Rosa had seven.
- Rosa led the team with 17 assists while Rylie Fuentes had eight.
- The Lions hit just .074 in the match with 22 hitting errors. TWU hit .208.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a back and forth battle in the early part of the first set. After the Lions took four points in a five-point stretch, the Pioneers responded with a four-point rally of their own to take an 8-5 lead. The Lions fought back to cut the Pioneer lead to just one point before TWU again rallied. They scored five consecutive points to build their lead to 17-10.
 
The Lions were finally able to have a few positive plays but TWU again went on a four-point rally to take a double-digit lead in the late stages of the set. The Lions kept fighting, scoring three points in a row to cut the Pioneer lead to seven but could not recover and fell in the first set 25-17. TWU had 16 kills and only four hitting errors in the first set, hitting .353. The Lions hit just .129.
 
The teams were back and forth again to start the second set. The set was tied at four-all before TWU took three consecutive points to take the lead. The Lions answered back to tie the set at eight behind kills from Nelson and Little. The Pioneers responded with five unanswered points to lead 13-8 at the midway point of the second set.
 
The Lions again struggled to find any momentum as TWU built its lead to nine points. The Lions began to start a rally late in the set, taking three points in a row but fell in the second set 25-17. Little had four kills in the set for A&M-Commerce.
 
The Lions started the third set well, scoring the first three points. Chapron had two early blocks and the Pioneers had multiple attack errors early to give the Lions a 6-1 lead in the set. The Lions had three service aces and Jaryn Wacker had three early kills to give the Lions an 11-6 lead.
 
The Pioneers began to climb back into the set, erasing the Lion lead and tying the set at 16-all. The teams continued to battle the set was tied from point 16 to point 23, as neither team would give an inch. However, the Pioneers finished off the set, scoring the final two points to win the match.