DALLAS – The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team clinched a season sweep of Dallas Baptist University on Wednesday night in the Burg Center with a 3-1 win, earning a spot in the Lone Star Conference Tournament in the process.
 
Set scores were 25-15, 20-25, 25-17, and 25-15.
 
The Lions are now 4-6 on the season with two matches remaining in the regular season. DBU completes its regular season at 3-9.
 
A&M-Commerce hosts Texas Woman's next Tuesday and Wednesday to complete its regular season. Both matches will begin at 6 p.m.
 
PLAYOFF SCENARIOS
- The Lions clinched an LSC Tournament berth by virtue of the sweep of DBU.
- Should the Lions win at least one of the two matches against Texas Woman's next week, they will be the second seed out of the Central Division.
- Should the Lions sweep TWU, DBU would be the third seed, as DBU won three of four against TWU in the season.
- TWU would need to sweep the Lions to take the second seed.
 

Rk	School	Rec	THIS SEED
1	UT Tyler ^	12-0	Hosts W2/S3
2	A&M-Commerce	4-6	Plays N3 at S1
3	Texas Woman's	3-7	Plays N2 at W1
4	DBU	3-9	Does Not Qualify

 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Lions hit .205 for the match with 52 kills and limited the Patriots to a .057 hitting percentage with 39 kills.
- Maddy Rashford (Placentia, Calif.) led the Lions with 13 kills, while Nicki Gonelli (Round Rock – Stony Point), Maiya Dickie (Huntsville), and Sydney Andersen (Placentia, Calif.) each had seven.
- Riley Davidson (Commerce) led the back row defense with 26 digs, while Lyric Hebert (Arvada, Colo.) had 17.
- Dickie added a team-best four blocks.
- Natalie Sarbeck (Cy-Fair) and Aislynn Shore (Hockley – Frassati Catholic) tied for the team lead with 22 assists.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions jumped out to a huge lead early to cruise to a dominating first set win. A 5-0 run pushed A&M-Commerce to a 9-3 lead to force a DBU timeout, followed by another 5-0 run to make it 14-4. The Lion block was ultra-efficient, scoring five points on blocks, including three by Dickie. Andersen had five kills in the set and Destiny Greenwood (Fairfield, Calif.) had four kills without an error. The Lions hit .257 in the set with 15 kills, while limiting the Patriots to a minus-.067 rate with only five kills against seven errors.
 
The Patriots were the early aggressors in the second set, using a six-point run to go ahead 10-4. A&M-Commerce would score six of seven points later in the set to cut that lead to 19-17, but DBU was able to pull away and tie the match at a set apiece.
 
The third set hinged on a big Lion surge after DBU led 13-12. A&M-Commerce scored nine of the next 10 points to go ahead 20-14, and another four-point run gave the Lions set point. Rashford threw down a big kill to close out the 25-17 win and give the Lions a 2-1 set lead.
 
A&M-Commerce put the hammer down early in the fourth set with the LSC Tournament berth in sight. The Lions roared to a 10-3 lead thanks in no small part to DBU errors on four points. A six-of-seven run pushed the Lion lead to 17-7, putting the margin nearly out of reach. The Patriots could get no closer than eight points the rest of the set, and Dickie's kill punctuated A&M-Commerce's season sweep.