COMMERCE – On Senior Day at the Field House, the Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team fell 3-0 to Houston Christian via set scores of 25-16, 25-17, 27-25 on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Lions, with a Southland Conference record of 5-11, are tied for sixth with UIW with two matches left in the regular season. A&M-Commerce and UIW meet in San Antonio on Thursday. Based on results around the conference on Saturday, the Lions have secured a bid into the SLC tournament. HCU is 11-5 in the conference standings, sitting in fourth place.
 
SENIOR DAY
Prior to the match, the Lions honored their graduating seniors: Essence Allen (Longview – Tatum) Reese Fetty (Farmersville), Yasmin Figueiredo (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), and Peyton Plant (Littleton, Colo.) as well as student manager Chalee Rivas and graduate assistant coach Makenna Hanssen.
 
The Lions started the match by taking the first three points, but HCU won the next six and built a 10-4 lead. The Huskies went on to take the first set, 25-16, hitting over .350 percent in the first set.
 
After falling behind early in the second set, the Lions came back to tie the set at six and went on to take an 8-6 lead, behind back-to-back kills from Kitana Tuufuli (St. Hedwig – Steele). The Huskies halted the 5-0 run by the Lions and took back a 13-10 lead on a 7-2 lead.
 
Following a Lion timeout, A&M-Commerce went on a 4-0 run to pull to within 18-17 as HCU called a timeout. Coming out of the HCU timeout, the Huskies took the next seven points to win the set, 25-17.
 
The Lions jumped out to an 8-4 lead in the third set forcing the Huskies to use their first timeout of the set. HCU once again capitalized on the timeout by going on a 5-1 run to tie the set at nine. Houston Christian had a 13-12 lead, but the Lions went on a 5-0 scoring run to lead 17-13 and force HCU to use its final timeout of the set.
 
Trailing 21-14, the Huskies went on a 5-0 run, amidst a Lion timeout, to fight back into the set. A service error halted the HCU scoring run and a kill by Tuufuli put the Lions back up by four, but the Huskies went on a 3-0 run to force the Lions to use their final timeout as well.
 
The Lions momentarily had a set point, but it was overturned on video review and HCU won the next two points for a match opportunity, which the Lions saved. A&M-Commerce had another set point opportunity, but a kill by HCU tied the set at 25.
 
HCU closed out the match on an attacking error by the Lions, 27-25.
 
Allen, in her final home match, led the team with 11 kills, and just missed out on a double-double, picking up nine digs. Tuufuli posted eight kills and two digs. Plant had 19 assists, while Breann Connally (Coolidge – Groesbeck) recorded 15 assists. Millie Allgood (Sherwood, Ark.) had 10 digs for the Lions.
 
For the Huskies, Grace McLaughlin had 36 assists and 10 digs for a double-double.


POST MATCH INTERVIEW
 
UP NEXT
The Lions head to the southern part of the state to close out the regular season, playing at UIW on Thursday at 6 p.m. and at A&M-Corpus Christi next Saturday at 2 p.m.