DENTON – The East Texas A&M University volleyball team lost to Tarleton 3-1 on Friday at the UNT Volleyball Center. The Lions finished with 49 kills and hit .231, while Tarleton totaled 68 kills and hit .381.
Tarleton put the Lions in an early 7-1 hole, scoring the first five points. The Lions worked back from a 19-13 deficit as a kill from
Gracie Campbell (Klein Oak) and consecutive
Katelyn Pritchard (McAllen) aces helped trim the margin to 19-17. After the Texans moved ahead 21-18, the Lions tied the set at 21-21 on an
Allie Ihloff (Tulsa, Okla.) block and took a 22-21 lead on a
Haley Mullaney (Decatur) kill from
Jade Washington. Tarleton scored the final four points to take the set 25-22.
Ariana Brown (Conroe) delivered a kill to bring the Lions even at 5-5 in the second set, but TSU answered with seven straight points, to move in front 12-5. Pritchard,
Samantha Mosley (Atlanta), Mullaney and
Sediong Scott (Houston – Elsik) helped the Lions cut the margin to 15-12, but the Texans rebuilt the lead to 22-15 and later 23-17. The Lions made one more push after a Tarleton service error made it 23-18, with
Rendi Fetty (Farmersville) serving four straight points that included an Ihloff block and Fetty's ace to get within 23-22. Tarleton reached set point and closed it out on a Lion serving error, 25-23.
The Lions moved in front early in the third set after Campbell's kill, a Texan setting error and a
Jade Washington (Waco – Midway) service ace helped turn a 5-3 deficit into a 6-5 lead, and Mullaney later added an ace for an 8-6 edge. Tarleton answered with four straight points to go up 10-8 and later built the margin to 18-13 before
Sabine Wenzel (Melrose, Mass.) had a kill, a Texan attack error and another Washington ace brought the Lions back within 18-16. After Tarleton pushed ahead 20-16, the Lions pulled even at 20-20 behind kills from Campbell and Ihloff, then answered a TSU point with consecutive Mosley kills for a 22-21 lead. Brown's kill made it 23-21, Ihloff put the Lions at set point at 24-22, and Brown closed the set with a kill for a 25-22 win.
The Lions scored the first two points of the fourth set on a Brown kill from Mullaney and a service ace, but Tarleton pulled even at 2-2. The set stayed level through 6-6 before Tarleton St. moved in front to make it 9-6. After the Lions got back within 12-9 on an Ihloff kill, the Texans scored the next five points to stretch the margin to 17-9. Mosley and Brown added late kills for the Lions, but Tarleton reached set point at 24-14 and closed the set 25-16 on a Laci Schoen kill.
Mosley recorded 11 kills on 22 attacks without an error, hitting .500. Brown matched the team high with 11 kills and finished with five digs, two blocks and one ace. Brown has achieved at least 11 kills in three consecutive matches. Mullaney posted 28 assists, three service aces, five kills and five digs. Mullaney's 28 set assists exceeded her season average of 23.55.
Campbell added eight kills and a team-high 11 digs. Pritchard recorded nine set assists, marking her season debut. Ihloff recorded two solo blocks for the first time this season.
The Lions are 6-6 overall, having lost five of their last six, while the Texans improve to 4-8. Friday was the 48
th meeting between the two teams and the fourth since both moved up to NCAA Division I. Following the win by the Texans on Friday, the two teams are now tied 2-2 in the Division I era and Tarleton holds a 25-23 overall advantage in the series.
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The Lions close out the UNT Invitational and non-conference play on Saturday at 2 p.m. against the hosts, North Texas.
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