STEPHENVILLE– The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team picked up two wins on Saturday at the Tarleton State Invitational. The Lions defeated No. 16 Central Oklahoma in four sets (21-25, 25-18, 25-20, 25-19) and also swept Oklahoma Baptist (25-15, 25-13, 25-12). The wins bring the Lions to 3-1 on the season.
 
The Lions return to action on Friday as they travel to Denver for the Colorado Premier Challenge. The Lions will face the defending national champion Concordia-St. Paul at 11 a.m. MDT on Friday and fellow 2017 South Central Regional qualifier Metro State at 2:30 MDT. The Lions' two matches on Saturday will be decided Friday after pool play matches in the Challenge have been completed.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE (No. 16 Central Oklahoma)
- Jaryn Wacker (Austin - Vista Ridge) led the Lions with 18 kills, hitting a eye-popping .516. She also assisted on two blocks.
- Jaslyn Wacker (Austin - Vista Ridge) had 11 kills and added three blocks.
- Celeste Vela (Guadalajara, Mexico) was all over the court for the Lions, recording 10 kills, 12 digs and 23 assists, as well as two blocks.
- Madison Luther (Sealy) had nine kills while Shelley Chapron (Houston - St. Pius X) had seven. Bina Njikam (Keller) had eight kills and led the team with five blocks.
- Rylie Fuentes (Robinson) led the Lion passing attack with 35 assists and also had 17 digs. Savannah Rutledge (The Woodlands - College Park) had 22 digs for the Lions.
- The Lion defense held No. 16 UCO to a hitting-percentage of .143 while hitting .219. The Lions had 62 assists in the match, while UCO had 39.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a back-and-forth game one from start as the teams were tied six times early on. Midway through the set, the Lions held a 13-12 lead. Luther had multiple kills as the Lions brought their lead to two points before the Bronchos took control of the set late. They went on a 6-0 run and could not be caught, winning the first set 25-21.
 
The Lion attack caught fire in the second set, hitting .581 in the set. After trailing 3-2 early, the Lions scored five points in a row, thanks to some UCO errors and both a kill and an ace from Vela. Jaslyn Wacker had back-to-back kills to bring the Lion lead to five points in the early part of the set.
 
UCO battled back, cutting the Lion lead to 13-12 at the halfway mark of the set. This time it was Jaryn Wacker with consecutive kills to build the Lion lead back up. Njikam and Jaryn Wacker closed out the set, recording two kills apiece late to give the Lions the 25-18 win in the second set.
 
The Bronchos began the third set on a run, building a quick 6-3 lead early. The Lions answered back with a 4-0 run to take their first lead of the set. That was part of an 8-2 run that gave the Lions a four-point lead at the midpoint mark of the third set. UCO battled back to get within one point but the Lions clamped down in the late part of the set, scoring four of the final five points to take set three 25-20.
 
The first half of the fourth set was evenly matched, as the teams were tied at 11 with neither team ever holding a lead of more than one point. The Lions then caught fire, scoring five points in a row to start to take control of the set. After the teams traded four points, the Lions again went on a run, scoring seven of the next nine points to come within one point of winning the match. UCO battled, scoring four points in a row but the Lions were able to get the final point they needed to win the match in four sets.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE (Oklahoma Baptist)
- The team hit .488 in the match, recording 48 kills on 45 assists. The Lions hit above .500 in both the second and third set.
- The Lion defense held Oklahoma Baptist to a hitting percentage of just .033.
- Shelley Chapron led the team with 10 kills, hitting .833. She also had four blocks.
- Jaslyn Wacker had eight kills and led the team with five blocks. Bina Njikam also had eight kills, hitting .800.
- Freshmen Madison Luther and Celeste Vela recorded seven kills each. Vela also had 14 assists.
- Rylie Fuentes led the team with 21 assists. Savannah Rutledge had 10 digs while Daniela Santos (Caracas, Venezuela) added eight to go along with two service aces. Riley Davidson also had six digs
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions scored three of the first four points of the match before the Bison answered back with three of the next four points to tie the match at four early. The Lions then caught fire, scoring seven of the next eight points. Vela had consecutive kills in the rally and the Lions held a 11-5 lead.
 
The Lions again went on a run midway through the set, scoring six unanswered points. The Lions ran away with the first game, winning 25-15.
 
The Lions began the second set on a tear, scoring 10 of the fisrt 12 points. Five different Lions recorded kills during the rally. Chapron had three early kills as the Lions built their lead to 14-3 midway through the set. The Lions continued to apply the pressure, winning the second set 25-13.
 
The Bison took an early lead in the third set before A&M-Commerce scored five points in a row to take the lead for good. The Lions then had a 6-0 run to push their point lead to double-digits. The Lions scored six of the final seven points of the match to win the third set 25-12 and complete the sweep.