COMMERCE – The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team pulled out a five-set thriller over UIW on Thursday night on Hunt Regional Healthcare court in the Field House to move to 2-0 in conference play for the first time in four years via set scores of 16-25, 25-22, 25-19, 18-25, and 15-6.
 
In the fifth set, the Lions won the first seven points and had a lead as big as 10 in the set, hitting .660. A&M-Commerce is now 5-9 on the season and 2-0 in Southland Conference play, marking the first 2-0 start since the spring 2021 season.
 
The Cardinals are 7-4 overall and Thursday was the SLC opener for UIW. Each of the last three meetings between A&M-Commerce and UIW have gone the distance.
 
For the Lions, Reese Fetty (Farmersville) recorded a double-double with team-best 18 kills and 11 digs, while Ellie Baumert (Dodge, Neb.) recorded a double-double for the second consecutive match with 40 assists and 13 digs.
 
After falling behind early in the first set, the Lions battled to tie the set and eventually had a 9-7 lead, but UIW scored 14 of the 18 points to lead 21-13, and closed out the set 25-16.
 
The first four points of the second set went to the Lions, including two aces from Campbell, as the Lions went up by as much as seven in the set. Trailing 24-17 in the set, the Cardinals put together a 5-0 run to stay alive in the set, but a kill from Campbell leveled the match.
 
The Lions lost the first two points of the third set, but responded by taking seven of the next nine and did not trail again in the set. An assisted block by Carley Spachman (Leewood, Kan.) and Campbell capped off a 3-0 scoring run to give the Lions a third set win.
 
UIW jumped out to a 6-1 lead in the fourth and went on to build a lead of nine points. Despite the Lions saving two set points, UIW extended the match for A&M-Commerce's third five-set match of the season, the Lions are now 2-1.
 
All seven points in the scoring run to start the fifth came with Campbell serving. Back-to-back kills from Fetty put the Lions ahead by 10 at one point in the set and Campbell closed out the match with a kill on match point.
 
Along with her 17 kills, Campbell had nine digs, three aces, and a block as well, while Spachman totaled five kills and four blocks, and Avery Wilks (Mont Belvieu – Barbers Hill) tallied nine kills, three aces, and four blocks as well.
 
Jade Smith (Houston – Mayde Creek) recorded 25 digs along with three aces and four assists.

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The Lions close out the weekend at 1 p.m. on Saturday against McNeese. Tickets can be purchased at LionAthletics.com/Tickets.