KINGSVILLE – The Texas A&M Javelinas not only clinched their first winning season since 1998, but they also clinched their first appearance in the Lone Star Conference tournament since 2005 by defeating the Tarleton State TexAnns 25-30, 30-21, 30-16, 27-30 and 16-14.

            The team rallied after losing the fourth game after having a strong early lead and came back from being down 10-13 in the fifth game.

            “We hadn’t done anything easy all year long so why would we start today?”, coach Shannon Alvarado said.

            “Before the game we talked about, win or lose, we wanted to go out playing well on our home court,” Alvarado said. “When push came to shove, our kids decided they wanted to play well. All the credit had to go to the kids.”

            Sha Tramble led four Javelinas in double-digit kills with 21. Adina Gray and Mollie Biega each had 14. Biega’s 14 kills were a career high. Shaday Smith also had 13 kills for A&M-Kingsville.

            Heidi Scheopner was only one assist off her career high with 57. She had 58 in a match two years ago.

            The Javelinas also had four players reach double-figures in digs led by Tara Grier’s 44. Tramble had 22 digs, Virginia Hernandez had 20 and Scheopner recorded 17.

            The team set a season high in kills with 75.

            Tarleton State took game one going up by as many as nine, 27-18, before the Javelinas took the next two games in convincing fashion.

            It looked as though the Javelinas would easily take game four until the TexAnns went on a 4-0 run to tie the game, 18-18, on a Kendall Hansen kill. The game stayed close until Tarleton State closed out the game on a 3-0 run to tie the match at two games apiece.

            Game five started out close, but again the TexAnns took the lead late, 13-10, on a block by Hansen and Shay Gracy.

            The Javelinas rallied to tie the game, 13-13, with a block of their own by Biega and Scheopner.

            The Javelinas faced match point being down, 14-13, but then scored the last three points of the match capped by a Biega kill to keep their season alive.