COMMERCE – Playing in the Field House for the first time in 312 days, the Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team secured a 3-1 win over the Lamar University Cardinals on Saturday afternoon. It was the Lions first home match as a Division I program and as members of the Southland Conference.
 
The Lions last played at home on November 16, 2021, to close out last season, and were on the road for the first 14 matches of the season, before returning home to secure their first conference win since joining the SLC.


POST MATCH INTERVIEW
 
Reese Fetty (Farmersville) turned in 15 kills, seven digs, and three blocks, while Celeste Vela (Guadalajara, Mexico) recorded 41 digs, four kills, six digs, and four blocks. Lyric Hebert (Arvada, Colo.), the team's digs leader had 20 digs as well as two kills, two aces, and four assists.
 
Both teams hit over .320 percent in the first set. The Lions had just one unforced error to take the set, 25-20, with five kills from Fetty and 12 assists from Vela. The Lions led 3-0 to start and never trailed in the set. A&M-Commerce's biggest lead in the set was nine points, reaching that plateau twice.
 
The second set was much tighter with neither side leading by more than two points at any point during the set. A&M-Commerce trailed 17-15 in the set when coach Craig Case used his first time out of the set.
 
The Lions came out of the timeout winning three set points and trailed just once the rest of the set. Yasmin Figueiredo (Rio de Janiero, Brazil) and Fetty had kills during the 3-0 run, while Ashley Pennington (Frisco) served up one of her three aces in the match. Both her and Kayla Lucas (Colorado Springs, Colo.) had three aces each with the Lions as a team recording 11.
 
Fetty delivered a kill on the second set point of the set and put the Cardinals to the brink by winning the second set, 25-23.
 
The Cardinals cruised to a 25-19 win in the third set, the Lions won the first point of the set, but never led again in the set. After fighting off the first set point, Lamar took the set, 25-19, on a kill by Kaitlyn Gil, who had match-leading 18 kills.
 
The fourth set started with both teams exchanging points until a 8-2 run by the Lions to take a 18-12 lead. Maddy Rashford (Placentia, Calif.) had three kills in the run, while Essence Allen (Longview – Tatum) had two.
 
Trailing 20-14 in the fourth set and down 2-1 in the match, the Cardinals bounced back from a timeout by tying the set at 21 and taking a 23-21 lead. Kills by Vela and Rashford tied the set and an ace from Fetty gave the Lions their first match point of the night.
 
Following an attacking error, the Lions got their second opportunity to win the set on an assisted block by Carley Spachman (Leewood, Kansas) and Vela. A&M-Commerce took the 26-24 lead in the fourth set with a kill by Taryn Cast (Peaster).
 
Allen recorded 10 kills, five digs, four blocks, and assist, while Cast had five kills and five blocks. Rashford had 13 kills and six digs in the match. Figueiredo added four kills, five digs, and three blocks, while Pennington had 11 digs.
 
UP NEXT
A&M-Commerce plays three matches next week, including dates against the two teams ranked atop the preseason SLC poll. The Lions are at Houston Christian on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and host UIW on Thursday at 6 p.m. and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday at 1 p.m.