COMMERCE – The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team defeated Northwestern State, 3-1, on Saturday afternoon at the Field House, with set scores of 25-9, 25-23, 22-25, and 25-12 for the Lions' fourth consecutive win.
 
The win brings the Lions to 9-14 on the season and 5-4 in the Southland Conference, while Northwestern State drops to 12-8 overall and 5-4 in conference. The Lions are tied with Northwestern State, Southeastern Louisiana, and New Orleans for fourth place at the midway point of conference play.
 
S1 | The Lions started the match with a 14-2 run to take an early 15-4 lead. The Lady Demons put five more points on the board, but the Lions continued with a 9-2 run, where Lyric Hebert (Arvada, Colo.) secured the, 25-9, set win with a service ace. This was the first time since October 2, 2021, that the Lions allowed single digit points in a set that was not the fifth.
 
S2 | The Lady Demons kicked things off with a 7-2 run. The Lions chipped away at the score to pull within four and continued to go on a 5-1 run to tie the set, 13-13. The Lady Demons continued to hold the lead, 23-20, until a 5-0 run put the Lions ahead to take the set, 25-23.
 
S3 | On a 4-0 run, the Lady Demons took the lead early, 5-2. The Lions answered with a 5-1 run of their own to put them ahead, 7-6. Neither team could pull away and the set was tied nine times until a 6-2 run put the Lady Demons ahead, 22-18. The Lions secured four more points before the Lady Demons won the set, 25-22.
 
S4 | A 5-1 run put the Lions ahead early, 5-2, and continued to hold the lead, 17-8, with a 7-1 run where Ashley Pennington (Frisco - Liberty) bagged the Lions 12^th service ace. The Lady Demons put four more points on the board prior to Maddy Rashford's (Placentia, Calif.) game-winning kill that put the final score to, 25-12. The Lions held the Lady Demons to a .059 hitting percentage in the final set.
 
Breaking her season-high in three different areas, Essence Allen (Longview – Tatum) led the team recording a double-double with 20 kills, 14 digs, and three service acee. She had a .341 hitting percentage. Hebert also produced a double-double with 27 digs and 14 assists, along with four aces. Achieving the third double-double for the Lions was Celeste Vela (Guadalajara, Mexico) with 37 assists and 17 digs.
 
Reese Fetty (Farmersville) put down 10 kills and seven digs, and Taryn Cast (Peaster) had nine kills on the evening. Rashford recorded eight kills, while Pennington had 10 digs.
 
This is the fifth match of the season, and third match in a row, with double digit service aces for the Lions.


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UP NEXT
The Lions begin the second half of conference play next weekend at Lamar on Thursday, at 6 p.m., before returning home to host McNeese next Saturday at 11 a.m. The Lions will honor their seniors prior to the match on Saturday.