SAN ANTONIO – In the Southland Conference opener, the East Texas A&M University volleyball team lost to UIW 3-1 (23-25, 20-25, 25-19, 13-25) on Thursday evening at the McDermott Center.
East Texas A&M starts 0-1 in conference play, while the Cardinals have won four straight over the Lions and are now 1-0 in conference play. The Lions fall to 6-8 on the season, having lost five in a row and seven of the last eight, while the Cardinals are 3-7 overall.
To begin the match, the Lions moved in front 3-2 on an ace from
Sediong Scott (Houston – Elsik), after UIW tied the set at 6-6, built a 9-7 edge on kills by
Sabine Wenzel (Melrose, Mass.) and Scott. Blocks involving
Ariana Brown (Conroe) and Scott, then
Samantha Mosley (Atlanta) and Scott, helped stretch the advantage to 13-9, and consecutive
Gracie Campbell (Klein Oak) kills later pushed it to 15-11.
The Cardinals cut the margin to 15-14, but the Lions answered with three straight points, including a Campbell kill and a Wenzel kill, and held a 20-18 lead after a UIW service error. UIW tied the set at 21-21 and took a 23-21 lead during a four-point run, and although Campbell's kill brought the Lions within 24-23, Sofia Grimm closed the set for UIW with a kill for a 25-23 finish.
The Lions answered an early 2-0 deficit in the second set with kills from Scott, Brown and Campbell to move in front 4-3, and
Rendi Fetty (Farmersville) served an ace that later put the Lions ahead 7-5. UIW came back to lead 8-7 and after Brown tied it at 8-8, the Cardinals scored five straight to take a 13-8 lead. UIW pushed the margin to 17-9, while the Lions got points on a UIW service error and an
Allie Ihloff (Tulsa, Okla.)-Scott block to reach 17-11. The Lions later scored four straight from 22-14, using kills by
Haley Mullaney (Decatur) and
Ellie Thurman (Henderson Nev.) plus another Fetty ace to close to 22-18, but the Cardinals finished the set on a kill for a 25-20 score.
After UIW built a 6-1 lead in the third, the Lions worked back with kills Wenzel and a
Jill Vinal (A&M-Consolidated) service ace before four straight points on
Ariana Brown's serve pushed the Lions in front 8-7. UIW tied the set at 8-8 and 9-9, but the Lions moved ahead 12-9 behind kills from Mullaney and
Skylar Lambert (Aledo) and a Mullaney ace. The Cardinals cut the gap to 14-13, and the Lions answered with a Wenzel kill, a UIW attack error and a Mullaney kill before later stretching the lead to 21-15 with Wenzel involved in a kill and a block. UIW got back within 23-19, but Campbell's kill gave the Lions set point and Mullaney served an ace to finish the set 25-19.
The Lions opened the fourth set with a point on a block by Lambert and Ihloff, but UIW answered with four straight points to move ahead 4-1. The Lions got kills from Lambert, Brown, Mullaney and Campbell as the set moved through the middle stages, but the Cardinals kept adding to build a 15-8 lead. After Brown's kill made it 16-10, UIW scored the next three points to extend the margin to 19-10. A Cardinals' service error stopped that run, but three straight points moved UIW to 22-11; Brown followed with a kill, the Cardinals reached 24-12 and Mullaney added one more kill before the Cardinals closed the 25-13 set with a kill.
Campbell led the Lions with 13 kills while hitting .231, exceeding her season average of 8.86 kills.
Jade Washington (Waco – Midway) recorded 27 digs, surpassing her season average of 17.08. Mullaney finished with 17 assists, nine digs, five kills, two aces and three blocks. Wenzel added nine kills and four blocks, exceeding her season average of 3.92 total blocks. Scott recorded three or more total blocks in two consecutive games.
UP NEXT
The Lions close out the longest road trip of the season on Saturday at 1 p.m. at HCU.
-ETAMU-
