DENVER, Colo. – Tasked with facing the defending NCAA Division II National Champions, the Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team pushed Cal State San Bernardino to five sets. A&M-Commerce beat Lynn University by a score of 3-1 to split the last day of the Colorado Premier at Auraria Event Center on Saturday.
 
The Lions took on three ranked teams and one team that is currently receiving votes in the latest American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) Rankings this weekend. A&M-Commerce went 1-3 in those matches.

"We had a steep learning curve, opening up the season against teams this good," said coach Craig Case. "They are making small adjustments and we're having to make massive adjustments. When our team competed really well, I was proud of them and the adjustments we made."
 
"We did have some stretches where we didn't compete well, we identified those and need to work on them. It was a really good experience for us overall, it should build confidence for us moving forward."
 
Nicki Gonelli (Round Rock – Stony Point) and Celeste Vela (Guadalajara, Mexico) set their career-highs in kills and assists, respectively, in the first match, only to break them a couple of hours later.
 
MATCH 1: Cal State Bernardino 3, A&M-Commerce 2
The Coyotes took the first set, 25-16 after starting the match on a 4-0 run. The Lions started the second set leading 8-2 and extended it to 12-4 on a kill by Reese Fetty (Farmersville).
 
A&M-Commerce withstood a 5-1 run from Cal State San Bernardino and answered with a 4-0 run of its own, highlighted by an assisted block from Fetty and Nicki Gonelli (Round Rock – Stony Point). The Coyotes came within one, but could not tie it and the Lions took the second set, 25-22, on a kill by Gonelli.

We identified a lot of things that we needed to work after yesterday," said Case. "We started a bit slow, but once we started doing things that we worked on, we were able to focus on Cal State San Bernardino."
 
The Lions led 15-12 in the third, but a 5-1 run by the Coyotes got them back in the set. A&M-Commerce retook the lead at 19-17 on a kill by Sydney Andersen (Placienda, Calif.) and extended it to 21-18 on an assisted block by Fetty and Andersen.
 
Cal State San Bernardino won seven of the last nine points of the set to win the set 25-23 and took a 2-1 lead.
 
The fourth set was tied at 21 when a kill by Essence Allen (Longview – Tatum) started a 3-0 run and the Lions forced a deciding fifth set by winning the fourth set, 25-23 on a kill by Gonelli, who had 21 kills in the match, which was a career high at the time.
 
In the deciding set, the defending national champions inched closer to victory by going on an 8-0 run with the set tied at two. They won the match with a 15-5 win in the fifth.
 
Vela had 43 assists and 14 digs, Maiya Dickie (Huntsville) and Allen had 10 kills each. Lyric Hebert (Arvada, Colo.) led the way with 17 digs, Riley Davidson (Commerce) had 12 digs. Ashley Pennington (Frisco – Liberty) had four aces.

"I was really proud of how Ashley played today," added Case. "She had a noticeable impact in our defensive energy and effort as soon as we put her in. She was a really big reason for our success today, it might not show up on the box score, but certainly was the case."
 
MATCH 2: A&M-Commerce 3, Lynn 1
The Lions' hitters were set up for success all afternoon thanks to career-high 54 assists by Celeste Vela, on the day she had 97.

"She was making really good decisions and giving her hitters really good chance to be successful. In the match against Lynn, it was really the best decision making she's made since she has been a Lion, that was showing as we were able to put a lot of balls away," said Case.

Gonelli's career-high of 21 kills lasted just about three hours as she had 22 in the last match of the day.
 
A&M-Commerce won the first set 25-23, Lynn took the second set by a score of 25-23 as well. Lions took the last two sets by matching scores of 25-20.
 
Andersen had 19 kills against the Fighting Knights. Hebert had 14 digs, Vela had 13 and Allen had nine.
 
The Fighting Knights outhit the Lions, .275 to .227 percent in the losing effort.

"To change the personnel as much as we did this weekend, our team really did a good job staying engaged and ready to do whatever they needed to do when we called on them," concluded Case. 
 
UP NEXT
A&M-Commerce plays its first two matches at home next weekend to start conference play against Eastern New Mexico on Friday at 6 p.m. and host West Texas A&M at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the Field House.