KINGSVILLE, TEXAS – The Texas A&M-Kingsville volleyball team fell to No. 20 Abilene Christian on Thursday night at the Kingsville Hampton Inn Court, but not before putting up a good fight.  (box score)

The Lady Wildcats (23-3, 11-0) won 25-21, 25-16, 25-23 in the Lone Star Conference match against the Javelinas (10-13, 4-7).

In the first set, the Javelinas jumped out to an 8-5 lead thanks to the service abilities of Ali Insell (The Woodlands/The Woodlands HS). The Wildcats would close the gap and the score went back and forth until it stood at 21-21 after a block by Lauryn Lozano (San Antonio/Smithson Valley HS) and Laura Macek (Wilson, KS/Ellsworth HS). Unfortunately, the Wildcats scored the final four points of the set to take a 1-0 lead.

In the second set, the Wildcats dominated with a .267 attack while holding the Hoggies to a -.053 attack.
In the third set, the Javelinas trailed 9-4 before storming back scoring 10 of the next 14 points. The Wildcats followed with seven of the next eight points to take a 20-16 lead. The Hoggies fought hard and pulled to within one point on two occasions, but Ijeoma Moronu put the match away with a kill on match point for ACU.
The Javelinas finished with 31 kills and a .056 attack as Lozano led the team with 10 kills and a .222 percentage. Sondra Cui (San Antonio/Steele HS) dished out 16 assists and had seven digs while Virginia Hernandez (Katy/Katy HS) led the team with 10 digs. Insell had an outstanding match with five aces and seven digs.

The Wildcats had 37 kills and a .200 attack. Moronu was the star of the match with 25 assists, 15 digs, eight kills and three blocks. Shawna Hines added nine kills, three blocks and a .389 attack while Neely Borger contributed six kills and a team high four blocks.

The Javelinas finish up their home schedule on Saturday with a match against Angelo State at 2 p.m.
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