COMMERCE– The No. 23 Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team defeated Southeastern Oklahoma State in straight sets on Tuesday evening. The set scores were 25-22, 25-8 and 25-22. It was the seventh consecutive win for the Lions.
The win brings the Lions to 17-4 on the season, while the Savage Storm fall to 1-19 on the year.
The Lions return to conference action as they travel to face Tarleton. The match will be played on Friday at 6 p.m. at Wisdom Gym in Stephenville. The Lions will then face DBU on Saturday in Dallas.
HEAD COACH CRAIG CASE AFTER THE MATCH
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Thoughts on the match: "A lot of the strengths and weaknesses we saw coming in played out how we wanted. I thought defensively, they were really strong behind the block. We knew that even if we could get past their blockers, it would be really hard to score. But that was good for us to experience. As you tighten things up late in the season, more often than not, everyone knows where you are going to hit. That was a good situation for our hitters tonight to be able to find harder kills than they have had to in the past."
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Setting a program record for aces in a match: "I think a lot of that goes into having good servers, having a good game plan and then executing. I think that although we may not be able to get that many aces every night, we should be able to serve that well every night. We haven't served that well in a while, really all season. And historically, maybe never. But we have to keep serving as agressively as we did tonight moving forward."
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
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Sydney Andersen (Placentia, Calif.) led the team with 14 kills, hitting .542 in the match while
Bina Njikam (Keller) added 10 kills, hitting .474.
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Shelley Chapron (Houston - St. Pius X) had seven kills and led the team with five aces.
Nicki Gonelli (Round Rock - Stony Point) also had seven kills.
- The Lions set a program record with 15 aces, breaking their previous record of 14 aces, which was set in a five-set match earlier this season. Four different Lions had at least three aces.
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Celeste Vela (Guadalajara, Mexico) led the team with 27 assists, while
Natalie Sarbeck (Cypress - Cy-Fair) had 14 assists. The Lions hit .379 as a unit.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions got off to a strong start to open the match, taking eight of the first 10 points to establish a lead. It was a balanced attack from the Lions as they pushed their lead to as many as eight in the set. SOSU fought back, going on a 7-1 to cut the Lion lead to just two points at 19-17. The Lions persevered and won the set 25-22.
The Lion offense and defense were on point throughout the second set. The Lions quickly jumped out to a lead, taking five of the first six points. Leading 10-5, the Lion offense exploded, led by four aces from Chapron that were part of a 10-0 run to take a 20-5 lead. The Lions finished the set on a 5-1 run to win the set 25-8.
The Lions again got off to a strong start in the third set, taking a 10-5 lead early. SOSU clawed its way back into the set, as the teams were tied at 21 late. The Lions finished with a fury, scoring four of the final five points to win the final set 25-22.
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Lion Athletics Mission: Committed to a "Best in Class" experience for all.
