WICHITA FALLS, Texas – The Pioneers turned around a rough start to take out the Mustangs, 3-1, (23-25, 25-14, 25-13, 25-23) Tuesday night, ending a three-game losing streak.
Both teams started the first set with a streak of errors before junior Katy Ranes made the first kill of the game for TWU (15-11, 7-9 LSC) at 4-5. The Pioneers defense stayed out of step as the Mustangs knocked in more kills in an 8-0 run. At 19-24, Texas Woman's put together a string of kills in a 4-0 run before Raven Presley made the final kill of the set and ended things in MSU's (5-19, 3-13 LSC) favor, 23-25.
"Honestly, Midwestern played great," TWU head coach Jeff Huebner said. "They made some incredible touches and it really took us a little bit to get a handle on the ball. One of our strengths is our defense, and it took us a little bit to get that off the ground."
The Pioneers continued to recover in the second set, building their hit percentage from .251 to .467. Senior Makayla Mayfield and freshman Taylor Frederick went on a killing spree towards the end of the set, with Frederick taking the set point for the Pioneers, 25-14.
"Taylor played great for us," Huebner said. "She continues to get better match-by-match. I think the last time we played on the road I said it was her best road match, and then she went ahead and played even better."
Texas Woman's continued to dominate in the third set, with Frederick pulling three kills in a row in an eight-point streak by the Pioneers out of the gate. While their hitting percentage would drop slightly to .355, the Pioneers still ended the set with a wide lead, 25-13.
"Any time you're on the road you expect that the other team is really going to fight through," Huebner said. "I thought our kids handled it really well, they were consistent, we kept the pressure on them."
The fourth set was a neck-and-neck battle. The Mustangs recovered to a .231 percentage to the Pioneers' .227. Neither team achieved more than a two-point lead throughout the set, but the Pioneers still took the set when Lauren Honeycutt attempted an attack off of a serve from junior Bailey French that was blocked by freshman Trixie Oche and junior Courtney Noel, giving the Pioneers victory, 25-23.
"We kind of went back and forth a little bit with them more than I would have loved, but I thought that our discipline and commitment to detail was really good," Huebner said. "It's going to happen; it's their homecoming week and they're really well coached. The expectation is that they're going to play well, and our kids responded beautifully."
Frederick topped the Pioneers' offense with 17 kills, matching her career best, while defensively French notched 21 digs and freshman Elizabeth Ugbaja put up three blocks. Junior Katy Ranes racked up 48 assists and a career-high 20 digs for the team's only double-double.
"Katy Ranes setting on offense at .309 on the road is really good," Huebner said. "There aren't too many 20-20 games ever, so a 40-20 game is really impressive."
Texas Woman's faces UT Permian Basin at 6 p.m. Friday at home, and will compete against Western New Mexico at 2 p.m. Saturday for the Pioneers' senior day. As the only senior on the team, Makayla Mayfield has played in the last four seasons, and Huebner hopes to celebrate her commitment to Pioneer volleyball with a packed house at Kitty Magee Arena.
"We want to make it a really special day," Huebner said. "She's an exceptional kid so we're hoping to see everybody out Saturday."
