DENTON – The No. 22 Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team won the final two sets to take a 3-1 victory over Texas Woman's University in Kitty Magee Arena on Tuesday night. Set scores were 25-14, 17-25, 25-15, and 25-17.
With the win, the Lions move to 19-5 overall and 11-3 in the Lone Star Conference, while the Pioneers are now 14-10 overall and 6-8 in the LSC.
The Lions have one more LSC match this week, taking on Texas A&M-Kingsville on the road at 7 p.m. Friday.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Lions hit .258 in the match with 49 kills while limiting the Pioneers to a .091 hitting percentage.
- Celeste Vela (Guadalajara, Mexico) was a dig short of a triple-double with 10 kills, 15 assists, and nine digs.
- Madison Luther (Sealy) also had 10 kills against only one error, hitting .409 in the match.
- Jaslyn Wacker (Austin – Vista Ridge) was error-free in the match with nine kills on 13 swings for a .692 hitting percentage.
- Bina Njikam (Keller) had nine kills and a team-high six blocks.
- Savannah Rutledge (The Woodlands – College Park) had 20 digs and Riley Davidson (Commerce) had 11.
- Rylie Fuentes (Robinson) passed out 29 assists.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions went on a massive rally in the first set to pull away early and keep TWU from threatening. The Pioneers had an early 4-2 lead before A&M-Commerce rattled off 12 consecutive points on Fuentes' serve to push out to a 14-4 lead. TWU could not get closer than six points in the rest of the set, and the Lions closed by scoring six of the final eight points. Luther had five kills and Vela had four, as the Lions hit .306 in the frame. Rutledge had 10 digs in the set to keep Lion rallies alive.
The Pioneers had the big run in the second set to even up the match. TWU led 7-6 and scored 10 of the next 13 points to take a seven-point advantage. The Lions were held at arm's length for the rest of the set, hitting only .100 in the frame.
Fuentes' serve was the catalyst for the Lions in the third set as well. Texas Woman's had a 13-9 lead when the Lions stepped on the gas. A&M-Commerce scored nine straight points to take an 18-13 lead, then scored seven of the final nine to put the set away. All told, the Lions scored 17 of the final 19 points in the set, hitting .241 in the frame and limiting TWU to minus-.065.
The fourth and final set was the most evenly played of the four, but the Lions left no doubt of their superiority in the late stages. After going up 14-13 and calling timeout, the Lions finished 11 of the final 15 points. A block by Njikam and Luther put the emphatic close to the match. The offense was clicking throughout, with 12 kills against only one error for a .478 hitting percentage.
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