COMMERCE – The No. 21 Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team used strong all-around performances to earn a 25-21, 25-11, 25-18 sweep of Dallas Baptist University in the Field House on Tuesday evening.
 
With the win, the Lions move to 10-3 overall on the season, while DBU falls to 9-6. While both teams are Lone Star Conference members, this match was a non-conference tilt.
 
The Lions have two LSC home matches this weekend, hosting Angelo State at 6 p.m. Friday and Lubbock Christian at 2 p.m. Saturday.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Lions dominated the game offensively, hitting .309 to DBU's .050, earning 43 kills to DBU's 22.
- Bina Njikam (Keller) led the Lions with 10 kills on 25 swings.
- Destiny Greenwood (Fairfield, Calif.) hit .455 with six kills and chipped in on six of the Lions' nine blocks.
- Sydney Andersen (Placentia, Calif.) had nine kills with a .261 hitting percentage and Shelley Chapron (Houston – St. Pius X) had eight kills with a .412 hitting percentage.
- Celeste Vela (Guadalajara, Mexico) had 20 assists and nine digs. Savannah Rutledge (The Woodlands – College Park) and Riley Davidson (Commerce) each had 10 digs. Davidson and Chapron were in on three blocks each.
- Daniela Santos (Caracas, Venezuela) had a pair of aces and Natalie Sarbeck (Cypress - Cy-Fair) had 17 assists.
 
HEAD COACH CRAIG CASE AFTER THE MATCH
Thoughts on the match: "There was nothing easy about this match. That's a really good team. I was really proud of our team and the work they put in for this match with the one-day turnaround. I think our team was excited for the challenge of playing a team as good as DBU. I was really pleased with how we came out. We came out aggressive early and that's really important for our team. Overall, I was just proud of the team for getting a sweep against a really good team. It may have looked easy, but that was a really tough match."
On the blocking and how it set up the defense: "Our blocking was good in two way. I thought we did a good job on the net of attacking really good hitters. DBU has four or five hitters that could easily finish in the top half of the league in hitting. I thought we did a really good job of attacking and affecting them. The other thing our block did a good job of tonight was being in good spots to where if they hit around us, we had back row defenders in the right spot. DBU is a really good defensive team. They lead the league in digs per set, they are one of the top teams in the country in digs per set, and we were able to out-dig them tonight because of how good our blocking was. We have to focus on those things and continue to get better in those areas and clean it up even more."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions started the match off by taking advantage of DBU errors to get out to a quick lead, though the guests brought the score back to 6-5 in the Lions' favor. A&M-Commerce used a Gonelli kill and block by Greenwood and Davidson to go up 9-5. The lead was back down to one point before a four-point Lion rally including a Greenwood and Andersen block gave the hosts their first five-point lead at 16-11. The Patriots could get no closer than three points the rest of the way, and a Vela kill emphatically ended the set in the Lions' favor at 25-21.
 
A seven-point surge early in the second set on Chapron's serve allowed the Lions to cruise through the second set. Almost all those points came on Lion kills, including a run of three straight from Njikam to put TAMUC up 9-2. The Lions were nearly unbeatable in the set, as five of DBU's 11 points came on aggressive A&M-Commerce service errors. A&M-Commerce hit .484 with 17 kills against only two errors in the set.
 
DBU took its first lead of the night by scoring the opening two points of the third set, but a three-point surge by the Lions with a pair of Andersen kills and Chapron ace put the Lions back in front for good. Santos' first ace of the night made it a 10-5 lead for the home team and another solid run of play on Vela's serve allowed the Lions to extend the lead to 16-7. The Patriots battled back to cut the lead to 19-17, but three straight Lion kills put the sweep within reach. A block by Greenwood and Madison Luther (Sealy) set up match point and Santos' second ace of the day sealed the win.