WICHITA FALLS, Texas – A defensive match that saw Texas A&M-Kingsville and Midwestern State combine for 162 digs and 17 blocks ended 3-1 (17-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-19) in the Javelinas favor Friday night in D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
The Javelinas improved to 15-9 overall and 5-4 in the Lone Star Conference while the Mustangs are now 5-19 and winless in 10 league contests.
Ashley Bukowski led the Hogs with 11 kills and added 19 digs for her eighth double-double of the season. Also recording a double-double was
Casey Klobedans with 35 assists and 10 digs. Both
Krystal Faison and
Valarie Moehrig finished with nine kills.
Defensively,
Brett Zaccardo was credited with 23 digs and Faison added 22.
Haley Hutchinson registered a match-high six blocks. Bukowski contributed five rejections and
Madison Brabham had four blocks on the night.
TAMUK totaled 86 digs and 10 blocks on the night while MSU had 76 digs and seven rejections. The Blue and Gold had a slight edge in kills (47-44) and hitting percentage (.107-.094) offensively.
After falling behind 4-2, TAMUK responded with three straight points during which Faison tallied two kills. The teams remained close until the Javelinas fell behind by three. Back-to-back kills from Faison and Hutchinson and the Mustangs hit into an attack error to tie the score 15-15. MSU finished off the set by taking 10 of the last 12 points.
Two combined blocks by Bukowski and Hutchinson and multiple attacker errors by the home squad put the Blue and Gold in front 9-3 in the second set. Two straight kills from Hutchinson extended the Javelinas lead to seven, their largest of the stanza, as they cruised to tie the match at a set apiece.
MSU took an early 4-2 advantage in the third until the Hogs took four of the next six points to go in front. The Blue and Gold upped their lead to 13-8 after a Mustang attack error. The home team then scored four straight to cut TAMUK's advantage to one.
After a timeout, the Javelinas answered with an 8-2 run capped off by a
Krystal Puente kill. The closest MSU would get the rest of the way was four as the Blue and Gold took a 2-1 lead in the contest.
Despite struggling offensively in the fourth set with a .040 attack percentage and 12 kills, TAMUK held the Mustangs to eight kills and a -.035 attack percentage. Bukowski registered four kills and Moehrig added three in the Javelinas' 25-19 matching clinching set.
Next up for TAMUK is a trip north to Cameron for a 2 p.m. match on Saturday.
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