SAN ANTONIO – Narrowly taking two of the three sets by just two points, the Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team swept the St. Mary's Rattlers, 3-0, for its first Lone Star Conference win on Saturday at Bill Greehey Arena. A&M-Commerce won the three sets by scores of 25-23, 25-17, and 28-26, respectively.
 
The Lions snapped their three-match losing skid and improved to 2-6 on the year, while the Rattlers fall to 7-4 on the year. St. Mary's is 1-3 in LSC play.
 
Essence Allen (Longview – Tatum) led the way with 16 kills, Maddy Rashford (Placienta, Calif.) totaled 16 kills. Celeste Vela (Guadalajara, Mexico) set up 44 assists and Lyric Hebert (Arvada, Colo.) picked up 16 digs for the Lions in the stat sheet.
 
Riley Davidson (Commerce) recorded 14 digs on Saturday, she is three digs away from 1,000 career digs.
 
Vela had a double-double with 44 assists and 13 digs. Allen fell two shy of the double-double. She had eight digs.
 
A&M-Commerce took a 10-3 lead in the first set thanks to an ace by Allen. Two-straight attacking errors pulled St. Mary's to 18-17, but the Lions closed out the set, 25-23 on a kill by Nicki Gonelli (Round Rock – Stony Point). Gonelli had 12 kills in the match.
 
The Lions had the early lead in the second set as well, they led 6-3 on a kill by Maiya Dickie (Huntsville). Dickie recorded nine kills. Another 3-0 run by A&M-Commerce built up a 15-9 lead and the set was won by A&M-Commerce on a kill by Allen, 25-17.
 
The Rattlers stayed ahead in the fourth set, looking to extend the match, and led 11-6. The Lions were down 19-12 when they fought back in the set and tied it at 23.
 
St. Mary's won the point at 23-23 to have a set point. Rashford delivered a kill to tie it 24 and an ace by Davidson gave A&M-Commerce a match point.
 
The Rattlers fought off the first match point, but the Lions got another chance for the win on a kill by Allen and won the match via a kill by Sydney Andersen (Placienta, Calif.).
 
A&M-Commerce started the match hitting a percentage if .217 in the first set but bounced back to hit .395 in the second set and .313 in the third. In the match, the Lions hit .303 in the match, the Rattlers hit .180.
 
UP NEXT
The Lions return home to host two matches next weekend at the Field House. Arkansas Fort-Smith comes into Commerce on Friday at 6 p.m. and Oklahoma Christian takes on A&M-Commerce on Saturday, October 2 at 1 p.m.