TAMUC – Sports

 

No. 17 Lions defeat Southern Arkansas in straight sets.

DALLAS– The No. 17 Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team defeated Southern Arkansas in straight sets on Thursday night on the campus of Dallas Baptist. The set scores were 25-12, 25-18, 25-22.

The win brings the Lions to 7-2 on the season. The Muleriders fall to 3-7 on the year.

The Lions will now begin their conference season, traveling to San Angelo to face Angelo State on Friday. The game will be played at 7 p.m. at the Junell Center.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
– Shelley Chapron (Houston – St. Pius X) hit .643 with 10 kills, eight digs, and two blocks.
– Celeste Vela (Guadalajara, Mexico) led the Lions with 12 kills in the match, hitting .526. She also had six digs and four assists.
– Jaslyn Wacker (Austin – Vista Ridge) had 11 kills, Bina Njikam (Keller) had eight kills, Madison Luther (Sealy) had five kills, and Daniela Santos (Caracas, Venezuela) had four.
– Rylie Fuentes (Robinson) led the team with 24 assists and also had two aces. Carolina Machado (Sao Paulo, Brazil) had 12 assists.
– Savannah Rutledge (The Woodlands – College Park) led the team with 14 digs. Santos had 13 digs, and Riley Davidson (Commerce) had 10 digs.
– It was the Lions’ third sweep of the season. The Lions finish the regular season with a 7-1 record in neutral-site games.

HOW IT HAPPENED
The Lions went on an early run in the first set, scoring nine points in a 10-point span to take an 11-4 lead. Chapron and Wacker both had two kills in the field, and the Lions also had two aces.

After SAU won three points in a row, the Lions responded back with six unanswered points, including three kills from Njikam. The Lions kept applying the pressure, winning the first set 25-12. A&M-Commerce hit .300 in the set, with Chapron and Njikam both recording four kills in the game.

Chapron had two early kills in the second set as the Lions jumped out to a 7-3 lead. A&M-Commerce then went on a 5-0 run to push their lead to 14-6 midway through the game. The Lions built their lead to as many as nine before SAU scored six of the next seven points to cut the lead to just four points. A&M-Commerce closed out the set scoring four of the final five points, winning the set 25-18. The Lions hit .368 in the second set.

The Muleriders came out firing in the third set, jumping to a 7-3 lead early. The Muleriders built their lead to as many as nine points in the game before the Lions got back into the set. Trailing 15-6, the Lions started to string together runs. The Lions had two 3-0 runs and then had a 4-0 run, with three kills coming from Wacker. Two Mulerider errors were followed by an ace from Fuentes gave the Lions their first lead of the set at 21-20. SAU tied the game at 21 before the Lions scored four of the final five points of the set to win the match.

 

Josh Manck

Associate Athletics Director for Marketing and Communications | Texas A&M University-Commerce