COMMERCE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team return to action on Tuesday night with a road matchup against Texas Woman's University. The Lions are coming off three consecutive home wins, including two conference wins against top-25 ranked teams.
 
WHO: Texas A&M-Commerce (6-5, 2-0 LSC) vs. Texas Woman's (3-7, 1-1 LSC)
WHEN: Tuesday, Sept. 19 at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Kitty Magee Arena in Denton, Texas
LIVE STATS: Click HERE
LIVE VIDEO: https://portal.stretchinternet.com/twupioneers/
 
The Lions are coming off of two heart-pounding five-set wins over Tarleton State and Angelo State, teams ranked in the top-15 in the nation last week. After facing four ranked opponents in their preseason schedule, and falling to each one, the Lions were finally able to get over the hump and close out wins against two top teams in the nation.
 
"I think it was the familiarity with high-level opponents," head coach Craig Case said when asked to explain the turnaround. "That was critical because it allowed us to understand that we have had some success against teams that talented. But I think the biggest difference honestly was just being at home. Having the crowd and the energy and being able to feed off of that probably was the biggest difference in getting us over that hump. Now the hope is, we have done it, now lets do it on the road."
 
Case knew it would not be easy to get two wins against teams of that caliber, even on his home floor. However, he told his assistant coach before the Tarleton match that if his team showed up, it would be an enjoyable match.
 
"I know against Tarleton we had several match points that we fought off," Case said. "And we had match points that they fought off. It was just a fun volleyball match. I told Coach [Sarah] Carthel before the match that, if we show up to play, this is going to be a very fun volleyball match. And I was right about that. It felt great to finally be able to play in front of our fans. To play the level of volleyball that we did against the level of opponents that we had, it was great to come away with two wins."
 
The Lions had several defensive standouts last week, so many that Case had to take a few breaths in-between listing them. He was quick to point out the play of Savannah Rutledge and Lacie Jessup in the back end and the blocking of Shelley Chapron and Jaslyn Wacker.
 
"Defense in college volleyball is a little bit of attitude and a little bit of technique and a little bit of preparation," Case said. "I thought everybody of the team did a great job in all three aspects. I thought Savannah was exceptional with her back row defense and communicating with people. She was really dialed in. And her counterpart Lacie Jessup, when they are in together, we are really tough to score on.
 
"Shelley was great as a blocker. Jaslyn was really strong as a blocker as well. Jaslyn and Shelley really set up our defense. When they are good, it is easier for the rest of us to be good. I thought defensively we were really balanced in terms of workload. I thought everybody did a good job of doing their share to make us a good defensive team."
 
The Lion defensive effort led the way to good setting performances from Gabriela Rosa and Rylie Fuentes, who in turn set up the Lion hitters. Case was happy to see his setters playing well and making the right decisions to make the hitters' job easier.
 
"That was one thing we were really critical of was our setters after the first two weekends," Case said. "They weren't doing a great job of putting our hitters in positions to get kills. I thought both Gabby and Riley did a great job of setting up one-on-one hitters last week.  And our hitters took advantage of that. When you have that many hitters hitting about .300 for the week, it is a pretty good sign."
 
The Lions will now have their first road conference match. They will face Texas Woman's, who is coming off of an upset win of their own against Angelo State. Case knows it will be important for his team to bring the same mentality they had at home to their road matchups, because whoever has the most success on the road is most likely the team that will win the Lone Star Conference regular season championship.
 
The consensus around the league right now is that how you play on the road will be will be a big factor in determining the league regular season," he said. "We are going to have to go there and try to steal a win on the road. TWU played just as tough of a schedule, if not tougher than we did in the preseason. It is going to be, at the risk of sounding cliché, this is the most important match of the year. We are going to have to play our best volleyball.
 
"I'm excited. You get excited when you are playing well and you are playing another team that is playing well. You just can't wait to start playing and see how it comes out."