COMMERCE – The Lamar Cardinals came back from being a set down to stun the East Texas A&M University volleyball team in five sets on Saturday afternoon via set scores of 22-25, 33-31, 20-25, 25-12, and 15-4 at the Hunt Regional Healthcare Court in the Field House.
 
The Lions lost their second five-set match of the season, falling to 3-2 in five-setters this year, while now holding an overall record of 6-15 and a Southland Conference record of 4-6. The Cardinals have won seven in a row and are 14-11 on the season and 7-3 in SLC action.
 
After losing the first point of the match, the Lions won the next six and did not trail from that point on in the first set. Despite trailing 23-14, Lamar made a push in the set, scoring six in a row, but an attacking error gave the Lions their first set point opportunity. Lamar fought off a pair of set points, but a kill from Rendi Fetty (Farmersville) secured the first set for the Lions.
 
The second set combined for 64 points as the Lions had four set points in the back-and-forth set, while the Cardinals closed it out on a kill by Keeley Nellis, which was their fifth set point of the frame. Throughout the set, neither team had a lead bigger than two.
 
After the Cardinals won the first three points of the third set, the Lions served back a 7-1 run, to jump ahead and not trail again in the set. Lamar used a 3-0 run to come within 21-19 of the Lions, who took the next two points and closed out the set on an attacking error by the Cardinals.
 
With the Lions cutting into the Cardinals lead to start the fourth quarter at 6-4, Lamar then won nine of the next 11 and forced a deciding set by taking the fourth on an attacking error by the Lions.  
 
Just the like the first four sets, Lamar had built up an early lead, jumping ahead 5-1 in the fifth. After a point won by the Lions, the Cardinals closed out the match on a 10-2 run as Maja Malinowska delivered the match-winning kill.
 
Zoe Ruskofsky (Clovis, Calif.) totaled 17 kills, followed by 16 from Gracie Campbell (Klein Oak), who had a double-double with 19 digs as well. Nevaeh Smith (San Antonio – O'Connor) had 12 kills, while Savannah Jennings (Rosehill Christian) totaled 10 assists, and Jade Washington (Waco – Midway) had 25 digs.
 
Also recording a double-double for the Lions was Haley Mullaney (Victory Christian Academy), who had 40 assists and 26 digs.
 
UP NEXT
The next three matches come on the road for the Lions as they face HCU on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and play at UIW next Saturday at Noon.