DENTON, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville volleyball suffered a 3-0 (25-21, 25-15, 25-18) setback at the hands of Texas Woman’s University in Denton Saturday afternoon.

In the opening set, Kingsville (10-10, 3-7) and TWU (15-5, 9-3) battled back-and-forth in a set that saw 10 different ties and numerous. The last deadlock time came at 17 on a kill by Kelsee Felux with an assist from Sarah Fountain. 

The Pioneers would break the tie and seize control with four straight points to take a 21-17 advantage with the final point on a block by the tandem of Viktorija Jablonska and Marcela Alves.

Kingsville pulled back within two points at 21-19 as Felux had a killed followed by an ace by Kalinda Graves. The Javelinas couldn’t continue the rally falling 25-21.

The second set was tight early as Kingsville pulled to within two at 12-10 after falling behind by four. Following a kill by Felux, Jablonska had an attack error.

TWU then ran off seven points in succession with Chloe’ Tate serving to take a 19-10 lead and would not allow Kingsville to pull closer than seven points the remainder of the match.

In the final set, the Javelinas battled with TWU early pulling to within 11-9 on a Lakeshia Craft kill. However, the Pioneers responded with a 5-1 run to move ahead 16-10.

Kingsville pulled back to within four twice but could get no closer.

Felux led the way for the Javelinas with eight kills with just three errors in 18 attempts for a .278 hitting percentage. Kelsey Washington and Brown each added six. Graves led the way with 14 of the team’s 56 digs, while Fountain and Ali Insell each had 10. Bethany Friesenhahn and Felux each two blocks.

Jablonska and Alves led TWU with 11 kills apiece. Setter Kayla Rivero had 24 of the team’s 36 assists. Morgan Wilson had a match-best 17 kills for the Pioneers.

TAMUK returns to Kingsville Hampton Inn Court next Friday for the first of two-home matches. Kingsville faces Midwestern State on Friday at 7 p.m. with Cameron coming to town on Saturday at 1 p.m. on Greek Day.