OKLAHOMA CITY (Nov. 10, 2023) – In their final weekend of the regular season, the Texas Woman's volleyball team started off the weekend with their fifth straight win.
TWU (19-7, 11-4) defeated Oklahoma Christian (13-15, 5-10) for the second time this season to record their 19th win of the season and 11th win in Lone Star Conference action. With their 19th win, the Pioneers officially record their most wins since 2019. The last season the Pioneers had 19 or more wins was in 2015, when TWU had 24 wins on the season. Furthermore, their 11th LSC win officially ties their most LSC wins since 2019.
On Friday night in Oklahoma City, the Pioneers fell in the first set, before responding by winning three straight to defeat the Eagles, 3-1.
"I am proud of our team for making our peace with the environment and our play in the first set," TWU Volleyball Head Coach
Jeff Huebner said. "Tonight, we embraced winning a little ugly in the second and third set and our resilience came through in set four. Kaia continues to lead for our team, and both of our setters were awesome at finding and working the middles into big matches. We are looking forward to our match tomorrow at UAFS."
The Pioneers hit .272 in the match, recording their 13th match hitting over .250. On the season, TWU averages .250, which ranks second in the LSC.
On their way to 52 kills, three Pioneers finished with double-digit kills.
Kaia Saylor, the reigning LSC Offensive Player of the Week, continued to lead the Pioneers on offense. Saylor finished the match with 13 kills and hit .343. The pair of middle blockers,
Kady Hansen and
Cara Pool, continued to be difference makers, as Hansen finished the night with 11 kills on .529 hitting, and Pool added 10 kills and hit .368 in the win.
Not only does the trio of Saylor, Hansen and Pool lead TWU in offense, they also lead the LSC in hitting percentage with all three ranking in the top five.
Pool currently holds the No. 1 spot, averaging .384 on the season. Hansen ranks third with a .350 season hitting percentage, and Saylor checks in at No. 4 with a .346 hitting percentage.
While the Pioneers have been dynamic on offense, they would not be successful without the skill and vision of their setters. Tonight, in the win, the Pioneers were led by
Grace Reynolds with 24 assists – her 14th match this season and third straight with 20 or more assists. Reynolds also added two aces and 12 digs in the win to record her 10th double-double of the season and second straight. With her two aces on the night, Reynolds ranks second in the LSC, averaging 0.48 services aces per set.
Joining Reynolds with double-digit assists was
Kiana Reed, who finished with 14 assists, two service aces and five digs.
The Pioneers tied the Eagles in aces on the night with nine, but they led in every other category.
Defensively, the Pioneers totaled seven blocks – their most since their Sept. 27 match against Angelo State when they recorded 10. Pool led the way for TWU with six block assists. Saylor added three, while Reynolds and
Tori Woods both added two.
Four Pioneers finished with 10 or more digs tonight.
Luna França continued to be a force for TWU, leading with 18 digs in the match and also adding nine assists. The 18 digs marked França's 17th match this season and third in a row with 15 or more digs. Outside of Reynolds, who added 12, Woods and
Eduarda Dutra both finished with 10.
In the first set, TWU jumped out to an early 5-2 run, before allowing OC to respond with a 6-0 run to lead the set, 11-8. Then, after trading a few points, the Pioneers would score three unanswered points with two kills by Woods and one by Saylor to reclaim the lead, 14-13. After the slight lead, OC scored two straight, and TWU tied it up at 15-15 off an OC attack error. Nevertheless, following the tie, TWU was unable to limit the long scoring runs by the Eagles, as TWU would drop the first set 25-21.
After falling in the first set, the Pioneers found renewed energy to come out in the next three sets with purpose and energy. In set two, the scoring would start out back-and-forth before TWU broke open the offense with six unanswered points to take a 13-9 lead.
Despite OC responding with a 3-0 run, TWU mounted their own 3-0 run off an OC service error and two Hansen kills to hold the lead, 16-12. The Pioneers would never trail for the remainder of the set, as a kill by Woods set up set point and Saylor followed with the set ending kill to win the match for the Pioneers, 25-21, and tie the match at one each.
Four straight attack errors by the Eagles opened set three, which gave TWU the early 4-0 lead and established the tone for the set. The Pioneers would never trail in set three and led by as much as eight in the set, 17-9, after a kill from Woods.
After allowing OC to score five straight to bring the score to 21-19, the Pioneers focused in to win the set, as they scored three unanswered points to create set point, 24-19.
A kill by Hansen off the assist from Reynolds would seal set three in TWU's favor, 25-20, and give the Pioneers the match lead, 2-1.
Once again, TWU established momentum by opening the set with a strong run. To start set four, TWU went on an 8-2 run. The Pioneers would only allow the Eagles to score 13 points in the final set. A kill by
Lexi Williams would bring up match point for TWU, 24-12. Then, a
Malia Viernes' kill would decisively end the match, 25-13, as the Pioneers defeated the Eagles for the second time this season.
TWU will be back in action tomorrow for their final match of the regular season. The Pioneers will face UAFS on the road at 2 p.m.
-PIONEERS-
