COMMERCE– The No. 21 Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team defeated Texas A&M International in straight sets on Saturday afternoon. The set scores were 25-13, 25-21 and 25-12. It is the Lions' second consecutive sweep and their third sweep of the season.
 
The win brings the Lions to 7-3 on the year and 2-0 in the Lone Star Conference. The Dustdevils fall to 2-7 on the season and 0-2 in conference play.
 
The No. 21 Lions are back in action on Friday as they travel to Wichita Falls to face divisional opponent Midwestern State. The match will be played at 6 p.m. at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
 
QUOTES AFTER THE GAME
Head Coach Craig Case (LINK)
- On his team finding ways to up their game: "Last night we upped our offensive play by responding against a really great defense. Today, we responded to a really good offense by playing better defense. What's promising about that is that we played really well and we need to continue to do that if we want to keep winning matches. I was really proud of our team."
- On getting contributions off the bench: "We had a lot of people step in today and play some big points. Whether it be Taryn Cast coming in off the bench and giving us that spark in the last set. Or if it was Maiya Dickie, bouncing all over and providing so many different things. The whole weekend was really good team win for Lion Volleyball. It was not just one or two players."
 
Senior Bina Njikam (LINK)
- On having an extra solo hitting session after Friday's match: "On Friday I was off. It wasn't that I was unfocused, I was just not being disciplined and was not trusting my training. So afterwards I came in and fixed the small things. We work on the details and I worked on what I needed to to be the best hitter I can be. I came in and I got as many reps as I could until I was satisfied. And I even came in this morning as well.
- On how the team can get on scoring runs: "I think it's just confidence. It's being confident in our training and trusting our training. We believe we can win a national championship, and we have to come in every day and prove that. I feel like when we have that confident mindset, we can do anything."
- On having great crowd support: "It is such a blessing to have so many people come out and support us. That feeling is not like any other. Thank you so much to everyone that comes and supports us at our games. It's such an amazing feeling and it makes us want to work hard for them.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Lions hit .337 as a team in the match, while the defense held TAMIU to a .061 hitting percentage. Four different Lions hit over .400 in the match.
- Shelley Chapron (Houston – St. Pius X) led the team with 11 kills, hitting .400 in the match. Sydney Andersen (Placentia, Calif.) added nine kills.
- Bina Njikam (Keller) had eight kills, leading the team with a .636 hitting percentage. Maiya Dickie (Huntsville) also had eight kills while Riley Davidson (Commerce) had seven.
-  Celeste Vela (Guadalajara, Mexico) led the team with 18 assists, while Natalie Sarbeck (Cypress – Cy-Fair) had 17 assists.
- Savannah Rutledge (The Woodlands – College Park) led the team with 17 digs, while Davidson had 10.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was an even start to the first set before the Lions went on a 6-1 run to take a 9-5 advantage. The Lions kept their aggressiveness, going on a 9-1 run near the end of the set to win 25-13.
 
The Dustdevils responded in the second set, taking a 12-7 advantage midway through the set. The Lions then fought back, tying the match at 15. A 5-0 run near the end of the set pushed A&M-Commerce to a 25-21 set win.
 
After splitting the first 10 points of the third set, the Lion offense went berserk, scoring nine of the next 10 points to take control for good in the set. The Lions scored the final six points of the set, winning 25-12.