DENTON, Texas – Fighting off two match points, Texas Woman's snapped a three-game losing streak Friday in a five-set thriller 21-25, 25-21, 25-17, 22-25, 18-16 against Texas A&M-Kingsville for their first Lone Star Conference victory of the season.
Almost evenly matched in skill, the Pioneers (7-5, 1-3) and Javelinas (7-4, 2-1) spent most of the afternoon's match neck-and-neck, neither team able to secure a comfortable lead for more than a few possessions. TWU's blocking game started out incredibly strong, with season-high performances from junior
Courtney Noel with six blocks followed by junior Katy Ranes with five.
"We had a really good game plan in the beginning and they made some adjustment but our defense has improved around that," TWU head coach
Jeff Huebner said. "They tried to hit it away from our block and that allowed us to play better defense."
As the game progressed, the focus moved more towards power from junior hitter
Maggie Pyles, freshman
Trixie Oche and freshman
Isabel Vega. TAMUK had the win in sight in the fifth set at 14-13 and 16-15 but both times TWU answered with kills and tried to switch the momentum.
Courtney Noel's kill tied the game at 16 and TWU gained the edge at 17-16 on a Vega kill.
"
Isabel Vega, what an incredible match for a freshman," Huebner said. "Isabel came through in the clutch for us and really demonstrated why she's such a great player."
A ball-handling error on the Javelinas made it 18-16 in favor of the Pioneers.
Pyles led all players with 23 kills and three aces, and junior
Bailey French led TWU with 26 digs. Ranes tallied a season-high 63 assists.
"One of the things that we wanted our team to do was set into single-option attacking situations, so we wanted Katy Ranes to get one up for our attackers and then be terminal," Huebner said. "I think that we were so much better at the net because of her play. She was incredible, she did a really great job."
The Javelinas managed to eke out a slightly higher hit percentage at .210 to the Pioneers' .207, and were led by senior Madison Brabham who registered a triple double with 18 kills, 26 assists and 13 digs, and added four blocks.
The Pioneers continue this five-game home stand with two non-conference matches Saturday against Dallas Baptist at 10 a.m. and Oklahoma Baptist at 2 p.m. TWU picks back up with LSC action on Sept. 21 against MSU Texas.
