Commerce Push Javs out of Playoff Picture

COMMERCE, TEXAS – The Texas A&M-Kingsville volleyball team saw their Lone Star Conference playoff dreams vanish on Thursday night when they lost at Texas A&M-Commerce 25-21, 25-13, 15-25, 20-25, 15-10.

The Javelinas (10-15, 4-9) fell behind early in the first set only to tie the score at 18-18 after back-to-back kills by Whitney Roth (Gering, NE/Gering HS).  The Lions (14-14, 4-9) responded by scoring the next four points of the match and took the first set.

The second set belonged to the Lions as they posted a .333 attack and limited the Hoggies to a -.028 percentage.

The Javelinas started their comeback bid in the third set.  Sophomore Ali Insell (The Woodlands/The Woodlands HS) served up six straight points in the middle of the set to give the team a 16-7 lead that proved to be insurmountable.

In the fourth set, the Javelinas and Lions were tied at 14-14.  The Hoggies quickly scored seven of the next eight points to take control of the set.  They closed out the set with a pair of kills by Amanda Waclawczyk (Poth/Poth HS) and a final kill by Lauryn Lozano (San Antonio/Smithson Valley HS).

In the fifth and final set, the Lions jumped out to a 10-6 lead before the Hoggies pulled to within a 10-9 score.  The Lions took a timeout and quickly scored the next three points and then closed out the match with back-to-back kills by Rachel Robertson.

The Javelinas had 50 kills in the match, but only a .126 attack.  Lozano led the team with 15 kills and five service aces.  Roth added 10 kills and a .467 attack in just 15 attack attempts.  Casey Chancellor (Bellville/Bellville HS) added nine kills while Waclawczyk had eight kills and a .438 attack.

The Hoggies were led on defense by senior libero Virginia Hernandez (Katy/Katy HS) who had 27 digs.  Sondra Cui (San Antonio/Steele HS) led the team with 29 assists.

Robertson led the Lions with 19, five blocks and a .341 attack.  Terra Ousley added nine kills and a .500 attack percentage.  Reagan Hayes led the team with 22 digs while Jordan Neal led all players with 38 assists.

The Javelinas close out their season on Saturday at Texas Woman’s University at 2 p.m.