COMMERCE – A volleyball team only needs to win by two points to take a set, and the Texas A&M University-Commerce Lions did just that in a 3-0 sweep of Texas Woman's University in the Field House on Wednesday night.

Set scores were 25-23, 25-23, and 35-33. The third set established a school record for longest set in the 25-point rally scoring era.
 
The Lions complete the regular season at 6-6 overall and in the Lone Star Conference Central Division, and advance to the LSC Tournament as the Central Division's second seed. Texas Woman's ends its season at 3-9.
 
A&M-Commerce will take on Oklahoma Christian – the third seed from the North Division – at 6 p.m. Tuesday in Kingsville in the opening round of the tournament. The winner of that match plays at Texas A&M-Kinsgsville – the top seed from the South Division – in the quarterfinals at 6 p.m. Wednesday. The semifinals and finals will be played on March 30 and 31.

HEAD COACH CRAIG CASE AFTER THE MATCH
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Lions hit .138 in the match and won all three sets despite a lower overall hitting percentage, as TWU hit .164.
- Three Lions had double digit kills, led by 12 apiece from Taryn Cast (Peaster) and Maiya Dickie (Huntsville). They were also the primary blockers, as Dickie was in on four and Cast on three.
- Sydney Andersen (Placentia, Calif.) had 10 kills.
- Setters Celeste Vela (Guadalajara, Mexico) and Aislynn Shore (Hockley – Frassati Catholic) each had double-doubles. Vela had 24 assists and 10 digs, while Shore had 21 assists and 10 digs.
- Riley Davidson (Commerce) and Lyric Hebert (Arvada, Colo.) tied for the team lead in digs with 16 apiece.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The two sides were never able to pull away from each other in the opening set, as neither team scored more than three points in a row, and an early 5-1 Texas Woman's rally was the closest thing to a run. The Lions had a 23-21 lead before the Pioneers tied it up with two straight points, but a Dickie kill and Emerson Coburn (Lewisville) ace in succession gave the Lions a 25-23 win. The Lions hit .143 in the set with 15 kills.
 
The second set was practically a mirror image of the first for the first 30 points, until the Lions scored four straight after a 15-all tie. Andersen had two kills in the rally which put A&M-Commerce ahead 19-15. The Lions held set point at 24-21, but a pair of errors put TWU within striking distance before a Cast kill finished off the set. The Lions hit .205 in the set with 19 kills.
 
A&M-Commerce looked to have pulled away in the third set with a 14-9 lead, but two kills from Kaia Saylor and two combo blocks from Tabitha Spray and Gracie Peters put the Pioneers right back into the fray. The teams were unable to separate themselves, answering volleys back and forth. As the match extended and entered extra points, each side hat set point – and match point in the Lions' case – five times before a three-point run on kills by Shelbi Sheppard (Emory – Rains), Davidson, and Dickie finally gave the home crowd the win. The set was the longest in 25-point history (since 2011) for the Lions by a margin of 11 points. In spite of six serve errors and 12 hitting errors in the frame, the Lions still cobbled together 19 kills in the set.