Fighting back from two sets down, the Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team went the distance in the Field House on Thursday night against the Southland Conference-leading Houston Christian Huskies, who took the fifth set, 15-12, to clinch a share of the Southland Conference championship.
The Huskies prevailed 25-21 in the first set and 25-16 in the set, but the Lions took the third set 25-18 and edged out the Huskies, 25-23 in the fourth. A&M-Commerce led 9-5 in the fifth, but a string of seven straight points put HCU ahead and helped the Huskies improve to 21-9 on the season overall and 13-4 in conference matches.
The Lions drop to 10-21 overall, having lost their last four matches, and 6-11 in conference play. Going into the final day of the regular season, the Lions have clinched a spot in the Southland Conference tournament with a firm grip on seventh place in the standings.
In the fifth set, the Lions led 3-0 and remained up front till the 7-0 run by the Huskies. The Lions twice pulled to within one but were never able to tie the set again and fall to 1-3 in five-set matches this season.
Lyric Hebert (Arvada, Colo.) posted 30 digs, while Celeste Vela (Guadalajara, Mexico) recorded 49 assists and three Lions had double-digit kills. Taryn Cast (Peaster) had seven blocks in the match.
The Lions were up 21-20 in the first set, winning four straight points. HCU answered with a 5-0 run, including back-to-back aces by Alexia Jones to take the set, 25-21. The Lions led early in the second set as well, but HCU never let its deficit get bigger than three and took the set by winning four of the last five points of the set.
The first 13 points in the third set were alternated by the two teams, until the Lions took a slight 8-6 edge, but HCU remained within one. An ace by Vela and two kills from Maddy Rashford (Placentia, Calif.) gave the Lions a 13-10 advantage, which they used to take the third set, 25-18.
Both teams stayed in the fourth set as well. The Lions had a 9-5 lead, but HCU won the next five points. Following a timeout called by coach Craig Case at 20-19 in favor of HCU, the Lions won the next four points, including two aces by Vela, a kill by Rashford, and a kill by Essence Allen (Longview – Tatum) to lead 23-20. HCU fought back to 23-22 and saved the first set point, but a kill by Rashford secured a 25-23 win for the Lions in the fourth set.
Allen had match-high 17 kills to go along with 13 digs, Rashford added 15 kills and four blocks. Reese Fetty (Farmersville) had 12 kills, seven digs, and a block.
Along with her seven blocks, Cast also had seven kills. Vela recorded 12 digs, two kills, and three blocks as well. Yasmin Figueiredo (Rio de Janiero, Brazil) finished the match with eight kills, four digs, and four blocks. Millie Allgood (Sherwood, Ark.) and Ashley Pennington (Frisco – Liberty) had 18 and 12 digs respectively.
Original source can be found here.
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