SAN ANGELO – The No. 4 ranked Angelo State Rambelles had not lost a match at the Junell Center since 2018 coming into Friday night, but the Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team played spoilers and prevailed in five sets over the Lone Star Conference leading Rambelles by set scores of 22-25, 25-12, 25-17, 21-25, and 15-8.
 
The 3-2 win by the Lions handed the Rambelles their first conference loss this season, first loss on their home floor since October 17, 2018, and snapped a 10-match winning streak this year.
 
For A&M-Commerce, this is its first win over a ranked team since downing top-ranked University of Tampa in 2019. The Lions have won eight LSC matches in a row after an 0-3 start in the conference schedule and hold an overall record of 9-7.
 
"Win or lose, our team has continued to get better," said coach Craig Case. "I am really proud of our team continuing to get a little better every match and not settling with the win streak."
 
In the match, the Lions had a hitting percentage of .201 and restricted the Rambelles to a hitting percentage of 0.083. Angelo State had a negative hitting percentage in two of five sets.
 
"Our players prepared really well for this match," said Case. "They made a lot of adjustments on their own during the match that were very effective."
 
A major factor in the low hitting percentage for the Rambelles was the Lion defense, which had five players reach double digit digs. Lyric Hebert (Arvada, Colo.) led the way with 26, Celeste Vela (Guadalajara, Mexico) had 20, Ashley Pennington (Frisco – Liberty) had 13, Riley Davidson (Commerce), and Essence Allen (Longview – Tatum) had 10 each.
 
"I am really proud to see the result of the effort that our team put in their defense," added Case. "We did a really good job of staying disciplined against such a good hitting team in Angelo State."
 
Vela and Allen had double-doubles in the match. Vela had 41 assists to go with her 20 digs and Allen had 11 kills along with 10 digs.
 
Offensively, Maddy Rashford (Placentia, Calif.) had 13 kills, Allen had 11, Taryn Cast (Peaster) had nine, and Sydney Andersen (Placentia, Calif.) had eight.
 
Maiya Dickie (Huntsville) had seven assisted blocks in the match for the Lions, who had eight blocks (one solo, 14 assisted) in the match.
 
The Rambelles trailed 2-1 to start the match but jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the first set. They had a 16-11 lead when the Lions pulled to within 18-17 on a kill by Taryn Cast (Peaster).
 
A&M-Commerce stayed within a point of Angelo State, but a service error gave the Rambelles two set points and they closed out the first set, 25-22 on a kill by Kailyn Gilbreath. The reigning LSC Offensive Player of the Week, Gilbreath, had a triple-double with 27 assists, 12 kills, and 12 digs.
 
The Lions build themselves a cushion to start the second set, going on a 6-0 run to lead 8-1. The slimmest scoring margin from that point in the set was seven as the Lions took the set, 25-12, on a kill by Vela.
 
The second set on Friday night was just the third set this season where the Lions allowed 12 points or less to their opponent. A&M-Commerce had a hitting percentage of 0.233 in the set and held Angelo State to a hitting percentage of -0.045 in the set.
 
Just like the second set, the Lions built an early lead and withstood a run by the Rambelles. The Lions led 12-5 in the set on a kill by Rashford, forcing the Rambelles to use a timeout.
 
Angelo State trailed 19-8 in the third set, when it called its final timeout of the set. The Rambelles won five of the next seven points to pull to 21-13. Two straight attacking errors pushed the lead back up to 10 for the Lions and despite Angelo State going on a 4-1 run, A&M-Commerce won the third set, 25-17, on a service error by Angelo State.
 
The Lions followed their scripts from sets 2 and 3 to build a 7-2 lead in the fourth and force the Rambelles to use a timeout, following an assisted block by Vela and Dickie.
 
Coming out of the timeout, Angelo State won three in a row and tied the set at 12 by going on another 3-0 run. Both teams kept it close in the middle of the fourth set with the Lions maintaining a 18-17 edge. The Rambelles rattled off three straight points, including an Angelo State block and two errors by A&M-Commerce to grab a 20-18 lead.
 
The Rambelles capitalized on the two straight Lion miscues and forced a deciding set with a 25-21 win in the fourth set.
 
Despite losing the fourth set and getting the crowd of 1,150 on its feet at the end of the fourth set at the Junell Center, the Lions did not waver from their game plan and won the first two points of the fifth set.
 
"Angelo State showed the championship mindset that they have to force the fifth set," said Case. "In the fifth set, we focused on what we did really well earlier in the night. I am really pleased with how some of our younger players responded in that fifth set."
 
Angelo State once again fought back and took the next three. The Lions took the next three to go back up by three, but the Rambelles were not done yet as they tied it at 6.
 
Two straight attacking errors by the Rambelles, one of which was blocked by Cast, started a 6-0 run for the Lions. During the 6-0 run, Hebert served up two aces and the Rambelles used both of their timeouts as well as a challenge attempt which was not overturned.
 
An attacking error by A&M-Commerce allowed the Rambelles to pull to 12-8, but a kill by Rashford and a bad set by Angelo State gave the Lions six chances to win the match and they closed it out on a kill by Cast to take the deciding set, 15-8.
 
"Less than 24 hours later, we're facing another good opponent on the road, so we've got a lot of work to do," concluded Case. "We'll celebrate this win a little bit and get ready to face Lubbock Christian."
 
UP NEXT
The Lions look to keep their winning streak going on Saturday as they travel to Lubbock to face Lubbock Christian at 2 p.m.