KINGSVILLE – A close match between Texas A&M-Kingsville and Midwestern State ended in a 3-2(20-25, 25-19, 15-25, 25-17, 15-6) win for the Javelina volleyball team that twice battled back at Kingsville Hampton Inn Court Friday night.

The Javelinas (11-10; 4-8) battled back and forth, point-for-point, with the Mustangs (4-18; 2-10) in the opening set, 25-20. TAMUK out hit Midwestern State with a .303 average. However, the Mustangs took the first set, recording more digs and the Javelinas recording 9 out of the total 20 match errors.


A quick second set pushed the Javelinas back into play with a win. Midwestern State quickly took the third set, out-hit TAMUK .391 to negative .062.

The Javelinas came out swinging in the fourth and fifth sets with hitting percentages of .455 and .304. The fourth-set win marks a season first for the Javelinas.

Kelsey Washington led the team with 18 kills out of a total 66 team kills, and three others – list here with total – had double-digit kills. Kalinda Graves, who was making her third start at libero, recorded a team-high 17 digs. Ali Insell and Bethany Friesenhahn had 11 and 10 digs, respectively. Stephanie Johns had a team-best six blocks – including three solo – as the team had nine total.

The Mustangs' setter, Courtney Haney, out-hit the entire Javelina line up tonight with a .545 average.

The Javelinas will be back in action Saturday as they take on Cameron University. Game time is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Hampton Inn Court.