ARKADELPHIA, Ark.– The No. 20 Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team picked up a pair of wins in the first day of Reddie-Tiger Invitational on Friday. The Lions swept their match 3-0 against St. Edward's early in the day and rallied from behind to defeat Henderson State 3-2.
 
The No. 20 Lions (2-0) will play two more matches at the Invitational on Saturday, facing Ouachita Baptist (1-1) on their home floor at noon before returning to Henderson State's court to face Mississippi College (1-1) at 4 p.m.
 
HEAD COACH CRAIG CASE ON THE MATCHES
- On the team play overall: "I was really pleased with our returners and how they held the standard, they pushed us forward. And today we had a lot of players play their first games as Lion volleyball players and we got great performances from a lot of our newer players as well."
- On getting some key bench performances in game two: "We had Nicki Gonelli and Taryn Cast come in off the bench in that second match and they helped us win the match. Every play they were involved in in that fourth set was a great play. I'm happy with those two being ready off the bench, they came up big and helped us win."
- On picking up a five-set road win: "With as many new players as we had, to get a come-from-behind road win this early in the season, that is a really good sign. I was proud of how our team handled adversity both on and off the court today. When things were not going well, people responded the way we wanted them to. That's exciting."
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE (St. Edward's)
- Shelley Chapron (Houston – St. Pius X) had 10 kills, hitting .333 in the match. She also led the team with six blocks.
Sydney Andersen (Placentia, Calif.) also had 10 kills, hitting .316.
- Keziah Williams (Branson, Mo.) and Maiya Dickie (Huntsville) had five kills apiece. Dickie also had five blocks.
- The Lions had 12 service aces in the match, seven of which came from Daniela Santos (Caracas, Venezuela).
- Natalie Sarbeck (Cypress – Cy-Fair) led the team with 21 assists, and co-led the team with 11 digs. Savannah Rutledge (The Woodlands – College Park) also had 11 digs.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED (St. Edward's)
It was an even start to the first set, as the teams traded points early. Chapron and Andersen had a pair of early kills as the Lions established a three-point advantage. The Hilltoppers battled back to tie the match at 12 midway through. The teams traded rallies as SEU took a 3-point lead before the Lions battled with three consecutive kills to tie the set. Trailing by one, Santos had consecutive aces and the Lions scored the final four points of the set to win 25-22.
 
 The Lions got off to a strong start to the second set, taking five of the first six points. The Hilltoppers battled to close the gap to 13-11 midway through the set. After SEU cut the Lion lead to one point, the Lions finished the set on a tear, scoring nine of the final 10 points to take set two.
 
After splitting the first eight points of the third set, the Lions once again began to take control, scoring six of the next seven points. The Lions also scored seven points in nine serves to push their lead to eight. A&M-Commerce scored the final three points of the set to win 25-15, sweeping the match.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE (Henderson State)
- Shelley Chapron led all players with a career-high 25 kills in the match. She hit .564 while also tallying a team-high seven blocks.
- Bina Njikam (Keller) had 14 kills, hitting .333. Maiya Dickie added eight kills and co-led the team with seven blocks.
- Savannah Rutledge led the team with 32 digs, while also adding six assists. Riley Davidson (Commerce) added 22 digs.
- Natalie Sarbeck led the team with 32 assists and also had two aces. Ashley Pennington (Frisco – Liberty) added 20 assists and an ace.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED (Henderson State)
The Lions started the first set on a tear, taking the first eight points in a row, and 11 of the first 12 points. Chapron had multiple kills in the rally. The Lions had another 7-0 rally as they pushed their lead to as many as 16 points in the set. The Lions won the first set 25-11.
 
The teams traded points early in the second set before HSU put together a rally, scoring six of seven points to take a 10-5 lead. The Lions battled back, scoring five points in a row, including multiple kills from Andersen to tie the set midway through. With the set tied at 17, the Reddies put together a rally to put the set out of reach, winning the second set 25-20.
 
The Reddies started the third set well, scoring 11 of the first 14 points. The Lions then rallied, scoring six of the next seven points to cut the lead to two points. The Lions cut the Reddies' lead to one on multiple occasions but could not bridge the gap and fell in the set 25-20.
 
It was again an evenly matched start to the fourth set, as both teams traded rallies to bring the early score to 8-all. The Lions then had three consecutive kills to take a lead, and another three-point rally to take a 16-11 lead. The Lions continued their strong play, winning the set 25-17 to force a fifth set.
 
In the final set, the Lions came out firing and never let up. They took the first four points and ended the match on an 8-1 run to win the set 15-5.