KINGSVILLE – The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team dominated the third and fourth sets Tuesday night to take a 3-1 win over Oklahoma Christian University in the opening round of the Lone Star Conference Volleyball Championship.
 
The Lions, who are the second seed from the Central Division, won by set scores of 25-22, 20-25, 25-11, and 25-12, over the Eagles, who were the third seed from the North Division.
 
A&M-Commerce has now won five straight matches and is 7-6 on the season, while Oklahoma Christian ends at 6-10 in its first season since 1983.
 
The Lions now face the top seed from the South Division, undefeated and No. 8-ranked Texas A&M-Kingsville, in the LSC quarterfinal at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- The Lions dominated in all phases, with 65 kills to OC's 35, and a .233 hitting percentage to the Eagles' .108. The Lions had 93 digs to help keep points alive, and OC had only one set with double digit kills.
- Maddy Rashford (Placentia, Calif.) had a career-high 17 kills on a .279 hitting percentage for her fourth double-digit kill match of the season.
- Nicki Gonelli (Round Rock – Stony Point) hit .333 with 15 kills and Sydney Andersen (Placentia, Calif.) had 11 kills with a .219 percentage.
- Lyric Hebert (Arvada, Colo.) averaged eight digs per set with 32 total. Riley Davidson (Commerce) also had 18 digs.
- Setters Celeste Vela (Guadalajara, Mexico) and Aislynn Shore (Hockley – Frassati Catholic) each had double-doubles. Vela passed out 25 assists and had 10 digs, and Shore had 21 assists and 11 digs.
 
HEAD COACH CRAIG CASE AFTER THE MATCH
"I'm really proud of how this team played tonight especially in tight situations. On the defensive side of the ball I was really pleased with our first contacts and that was key down the stretch for us to make some runs. OC is an incredible blocking and serving team. For us to finish hitting over .200 is really pleasing. There was nothing easy about this win tonight."
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
The opening set was a game of runs, as each side seemed to take momentum for a few points at a time. The Lions scored seven of eight points to take an 18-14 lead before the Eagles scored five straight to take a 19-18 lead. Rashford then threw down three straight kills to start a 5-2 run that put the Lions ahead 23-21. Two Eagle errors handed the Lions a 25-22 set win. The Lions hit .146 with 17 kills in the frame, led by Rashford's six finishers.
 
The Eagles were able to tie the match at a set apiece, thanks to a big run in the middle of the seonc set. An 11-3 OC surge included three Lion hitting errors, and the Eagles took a 19-11 lead. A&M-Commerce was able to narrow its deficit to four points late in the frame before OC took the 25-20 win. Gonelli and Rashford each had four of the Lions' 13 kills in the set, but 10 hitting errors and a .071 percentage were too much to overcome.
 
The Lions regained control with a run of their own in the third set. From a 3-all tie, TAMUC took off on a 14-4 rally with nine kills. That 17-7 lead was too much for the young Eagle squad to fight back from, and the Lions scored the final five points of the set, with an Andersen hammer closing the 25-11 win. OC's Allyssa Hamlin had six kills in the Eagles' 11 points, but the Lions hit .381 with 18 kills against only two errors, and Hebert had 11 digs.
 
The fourth set was all Lions again, with strings of three and four points to the Eagles' one. The Lions hit .350 in the set with 17 kills against only three errors. A Davidson service ace closed out the victory.