COMMERCE – The East Texas A&M University swept the season series against the Northwestern State Lady Demons on Saturday afternoon on the Hunt Regional Healthcare Court in the Field House via set scores of 25-19, 25-23, 18-25, 25-15.
 
The Lions have won three of their last four to improve to 9-16 overall and 7-7 in Southland Conference play, while Northwestern State falls to 1-27 overall and 0-14 in SLC action, having lost 27 matches in a row.
 
Both teams exchanged the first 12 points of the match, but then the Lady Demons won four of the next five to take a 10-7 lead. The Lions served back a 4-1 run to tie the set and then jumped ahead 16-12 and did not trail again in the set.
 
Though the Lady Demons put together a 3-1 run late in the set, the Lions took the first on a kill by Brooke Box (Klein Collins).
 
Neither side was able to break loose of the other at the start of the second set until a 3-0 run by the Lady Demons put them ahead 11-9. The Lions won the next three to re-take the lead, but the Lady Demons went on a 3-0 run of their own to lead 15-13.
 
The Lions then went on a 5-0 run following the media timeout and had four chances to win the set at 24-20, but NSU took the next three. A kill from Giana Brown (San Antonio – Brennan) secured the second set for the Lions.
 
Northwestern State jumped ahead 3-1 to start the third set and the Lions were not able to gain the lead in the set. NSU led by as much as seven in the set and despite the Lions fighting off a pair of set points, the Lady Demons won their first set in conference play via an assisted block from Samaya Wesson and Deja Benjamin.
 
East Texas A&M flipped the script in the fourth set by winning four of the first five points of the fourth and jumped ahead 12-4. The Lady Demons made things interesting by going on a 7-1 run and coming within a point of the Lions.
 
Following a timeout, the Lions surrendered just four points the rest of the match to finish off a 2-0 weekend over the Lady Demons on a kill by Gracie Campbell (Klein Oak)
 
For the Lions, Haley Mullaney (Victory Christian Academy) recorded a double-double with 37 assists and 10 digs, while Campbell had 18 kills and eight digs. Jade Washington (Waco – Midway) led the way with 24 digs and Nevaeh Smith (San Antonio – O'Connor) had four blocks.
 
UP NEXT
The Lions close out the regular season next week, hosting A&M-Corpus Christi on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and then UTRGV for Senior Day next Saturday at 11 a.m. Tickets can be purchased at LionAthletics.com/tickets.