DENTON, Texas – A pair of wins Saturday for Texas Woman's volleyball extended its winning streak to three after downing Dallas Baptist, 3-1 (25-15, 20-25, 25-21, 25-15), and Oklahoma Baptist, 3-1 (25-16, 19-25, 25-18, 25-15). 
 
The first match between TWU (9-5, 1-3 LSC) and DBU (6-6, 0-0 HC) started out slow for the Pioneers and they struggled early with errors before junior Maggie Pyles, junior Courtney Noel and freshman Isabel Vega started bringing in a string of kills that built a comfortable eight-point lead that was extended to 10 for the win, 25-15. At 6' 4", junior Emma Eakin of Dallas Baptist may have had the height advantage at the net over Texas Woman's, but she couldn't manage consistent blocks against Noel and Vega. The Pioneers' hit percentage for the first set came in a .227 with the Lady Patriots at a deficit -.028.
 

"Isabel Vega, even though she was a little bit less effective than she was yesterday, still hit the ball really well, still made good decisions," TWU head coach Jeff Huebner said. "And Trixie [Oche] is really starting to be one of the premier middles."

 
DBU bounced back to take the second set with a .345 hitting percentage to TWU's .167 as the Pioneers lost some momentum and started racking up errors again. 
 

"We talked about urgency, if our program wants to be a top program then we've got to play together a little more frequently," Huebner said.

 
In the third set, down 13-10 after three straight errors, Huebner called a timeout and gave the huddle over to his captains to talk about how to turn things around. The Pioneers came out and started clicking. After Pyles broke the Patriots' five-point streak on an assist by junior Katy Ranes, junior Bailey French served two aces in a row. TWU caught fire with seven straight points to rattle DBU with the effective attack of Noel and senior Makayla Mayfield who got the kill for the 25-21 win.
 
Momentum was still strong in the fourth set, starting off with the deadly combo of Ranes and Noel, whose slide attack was proving to be nearly unstoppable to the Lady Patriot's defense. 
 

"[Ranes and Noel] have a lot of trust," Huebner said. "This is their third year of setter-middle combination, and I think that combination is one of the most intricate in volleyball."

 
TWU set up a nine-point lead before DBU was able to put up an effective block. The Pioneers made up that lead again and stretched it to 10 points in a set that never saw a lead change and only one tied score. Ranes served up an error at set point, but assisted Vega in the kill that would end the set 25-15, and give the match to Texas Woman's.
 
Pyles registered a double-double with a game-high 13 kills and 10 digs. Ranes was the leader in assists with 51 and Mayfield had a .368 hitting percentage with eight kills and only one error on 19 attempts.
 
Texas Woman's then took on Oklahoma Baptist (8-10, 2-1 GAC) and play followed a similar pattern, with the Pioneers winning, 3-1 (25-16, 19-25, 25-18, 25-15).
 
The first set was paced by a powerful TWU offense that hit an astounding .405 to OBU's .121. A loss of focus saw the momentum drop off in the second set as the Pioneers mustered only nine kills and a .062 hitting percentage. Texas Woman's spent the third and fourth sets in recovery, finding open spaces on the court and digging in on long rallies to come up with the point. For the game, TWU hit .253 to OBU's .173.
 

"We're improving our maturity every match," Huebner said. "We had a good opportunity, we struggled at the beginning of the second set, but we made some good choices and tightened it up really well and got our best hitters to the ball."

 
Pyles recorded a team-leading eighth double-double with 11 kills and 19 digs while junior Erin Jones dug a career-best 25 digs. Freshman Liz Ugbaja tallied a career-high 15 kills, and Ranes, who is leading all setters in the LSC in assists, put up huge numbers to help TWU to three straight wins this weekend.
 

"Over Friday and Saturday, Katy Ranes ended up with 168 assists," Huebner said. "168 assists in three matches is a big, big number."

 
The Pioneers are at home again next Friday as they face Midwestern State in a Lone Star Conference matchup at 6 p.m.