COMMERCE, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women’s volleyball team struggled offensively against Texas A&M-Commerce Friday night and fell 3-0 (25-12, 27-25, 25-19) to the Lions.
The Javelinas (10-9, 3-7 LSC) entered the second half of Lone Star Conference play having won three of their last four matches behind solid offensive play. On Friday, they hit .079 finishing with 29 kills. Meanwhile, Commerce hit .259 in the match to move to 14-6 overall and 5-5 in the LSC.
After hitting .024 in the opening game, the Javelinas looked to rebound in game two leading by five on several occasions. Kingsville jumped out to an early 10-5 lead after a Kelsey Washington kill. The Javs regained a 5-point lead midway through the match when an attack error by Rachel Robertson gave the visitors a 19-14 lead.
The Lions responded with a 6-0 run to take a 20-19 lead. Ezon Onditi had two kills in the run, while the Javelinas had a pair hitting errors.
Kingsville looked to even the match at a set each leading 24-22 after an ace by Kalinda Graves, but kills by Onditi and Breanne Snyder tied the match at 24 and erased the set point.
Bethany Friesenhahn, who led TAMUK with seven kills, gave the Javs their second set point with a kill for a 25-24 lead. However, the Lions took the set 27-25 after Chelsee Hudson’s kill evened the match at 25 and two errors by Kingsville. Sarah Fountain had a bad set and Stephanie Johns had an attack error.
In the final set, the teams were tied early at five, but Commerce went on a 6-1 run. Kingsville would get no closer than four, 19-15, the rest of the way
Aside from Friesenhahn’s seven kills, Dedra Brown and Washington each had six. Washington led four Javelinas in double-digit digs with 16. Graves added 14, Fountain 11, and Ali Insell 10. Robertson led the hosts with 14 kills, while Onditi added 11 and Snyder 10. Jordan Neal had 41 assists.
Kingsville will look to get back in the win column on Saturday when it takes on Texas Woman’s University in Denton at 2 p.m.