COMMERCE– The No. 21 Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team defeated Texas A&M-Kingsville in straight sets on Friday night. The set scores were 25-20, 25-22, and 25-20.
 
The win brings the Lions to 6-3 on the season and 1-0 in the Lone Star Conference. The Javelinas fall to 8-4 on the year and 0-1 in conference play.
 
The Lions return to action on Saturday with a home match against Texas A&M International. The match will be played at 2 p.m. at the Field House.
 
Tickets to Lion Volleyball home matches can be purchased by visiting WeAreLionsTix.com, by calling (903) 468-8756, or by visiting the Lion Sales & Service Box Office inside the Field House during business hours.
 
HEAD COACH CRAIG CASE AFTER THE MATCH (LINK)
- On being at home for the first time: "We had a fantastic crowd. I've always said our crowd is really good because they stick with us, even if we aren't playing well. And they expect a lot out of us. But tonight, they did something that I really enjoyed. When we made good volleyball plays, it erupted in here. You could tell some points were more important than others to our fans. That's a really good sign that we have a good following. They are here to help us win."
- On facing adversity in the second set: "We were playing tired to begin that second set. We made enough plays and got enough energy from the crowd to snap us out of it. I thought that was really critical. Once we stopped playing tired, I thought we were able to start establishing what we were doing well and started taking away some of the things that Kingsville was trying to do. That was critical."
- On playing with aggression: "I loved the way Bina Njikam played in this match. She played with a fantastic aggression and the way she played in this match really opened things up for our other hitters as well. Opposing defenses really game plan to slide to her side and I felt she was a huge impact on the match, even if the stats don't show it. I loved seeing that from her."
: On the quick turnaround: "We have to keep continuing to focus on the little things that we are trying to do to be a good volleyball team. International has some strengths and some weaknesses. If we are able to create some mismatches like we did tonight, and are able to limit International's advantages, that would be big. Tonight, we were able to limit mismatches against us. And our mismatches, we really capitalized. Hopefully we can do the same thing tomorrow. They have a lot of good volleyball players on their team. It is going to be a tough match. We have to be ready to go and play the best volleyball we can.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Sydney Andersen (Placentia, Calif.) led the team with 14 kills, hitting .286 in the match. She also had a pair of blocks.
- Shelley Chapron (Houston – St. Pius X) had eight kills, hitting .389 in the match, while also adding a team-high four blocks. Maiya Dickie (Huntsville) also had eight kills in the match.
- Natalie Sarbeck (Cypress – Cy-Fair) led the team with 27 assists. Celeste Vela (Guadalajara, Mexico) added 11 assists.
- Savannah Rutledge (The Woodlands – College Park) and Riley Davidson (Commerce) each had 15 digs to co-lead the team. Daniela Santos (Caracas, Venezuela) added 13 digs.
- The Lions had six service aces in the match and did not give up an ace.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions started the match strong, scoring six of the first eight points. After a 5-0 run by the Javelinas, the Lions took four points in a row to regain the lead. A&M-Kingsville pulled within one point late in the set before a 4-0 run by the Lions pushed them to a 25-20 set win.
 
The Javelinas got off to a hot start in the second set, taking an early 9-5 lead. The Lions responded with a 6-0 run to regain the lead and calm the storm. With the match tied at 16, A&M-Commerce then went on a 6-1 run to take control of the set, winning 25-22.
 
The third set was balanced in the first half, as the Lions held a 12-11 lead midway through the set. The floodgates then opened, as the Lions took nine of the next 10 points to build a large lead. A&M-Commerce took the final set 25-20, sweeping the match.