CANYON, Texas (Volleyball) – Texas A&M University-Kingsville (22-8, 11-6 LSC) tops West Texas A&M University (15-13, 9-8 LSC) 3-1 inside of the Box on Friday night.
The win over the Lady Buffs marks the first time the Hogs swept the season series since 2004. It also makes this 2016 team the winningest team as far as Lone Star Conference games with 11 wins and ties the programs overall single-season wins record at 22. The last time Kingsville reached 22 wins was in 1998 under the leadership of Donna Benotti.
The Javelinas was solid on both sides of the net throughout the entire match as they recored a hitting percentage of .211 on 64 kills, eight team blocks and a sideout percentage of 60. Krystal Faison achieved her 16th double-double this season with 16 kills and 16 digs, while Casey Klobedans gathered her 13th double-double with 51 assists and 12 digs in the four sets played. Ashley Bukowski finished the match with 15 kills and one ace, followed by Lexi Wick who recorded 13 kills and a team-high of five blocks. Sophomore Madison Brabham played well as she notched 11 kills and two blocks and middle Haley Hutchinson had eight points on six kills and three total blocks.
GAME INFORMATION
Sets: Texas A&M-Kingsville 3, West Texas A&M 1
Records: Texas A&M-Kingsville (22-8, 11-6 LSC), West Texas A&M (15-13, 9-8 LSC)
Series: Texas A&M-Kingsville is 5-48 against West Texas A&M
Location: The Box
Time of Match: 7 p.m.
TEAM LEADERS
Texas A&M-Kingsville
Kills: Krystal Faison, 16
Blocks: Lexi Wick, 5
Assists: Casey Klobedans, 51
Aces: Krystal Faison, 2
Digs: Krystal Puente, 23
West Texas A&M
Kills: Cori Haley, 12
Blocks: Crystal Thomas, 5
Assists: Selena Batiste, 35
Aces: Three players with one ace
Digs: Kyli Schulz, 13
HOW IT HAPPENED
Set 1
The opening set was tight from the very beginning. The Hogs offense started off aggressive as they scored the first 12 points on 11 kills and one service ace. With the score tied late at 25, Faison sent a missile down the line to take a one point lead and WT committed an attacking error to give TAMUK a 27-25 win. Wick recored six kills in the set, while Brabham put down five kills. Faison and Bukowski both finished with four kills.
Set 2
The Javs kept applying pressure early as they jumped out to a 10-6 lead although the Lady Buffs soon tied the set at 12. Later with the score in favor of WTAMU 21-20, Faison and Hutchinson converted on back-to-back kills to take the lead and ignite a 5-1 run to win the set 25-22, taking control of the match 2-0. Bukowski and Faison both tallied five kills and Brabham had another strong showing with four kills.
Set 3
West Texas came out of the intermission strong and led 12-5 to begin set No. 3. The Blue and Gold trimmed the deficit 14-11, but the Lady Buffs tacked on four straight points to force a Hogs timeout. WT led the entire set and won 25-16 to stay alive in the match.
Set 4
Texas A&M-Kingsville dominated the fourth frame. Other than the Lady Buffs scoring the first points of the set, The Javs led the entire way to close the match. It started with an early 10-3 lead that soon expanded to 18-9. Behind Faison and Wick's ten combined points, the Javelinas won the set easily 25-14 to defeate the Lady Buffs 3-1. The two juniors had three kills in the set. Faison recorded her second ace of the match and Wick finished with three blocks. Bukowski, Brabham and Hutchinson all concluded the set with two kills each.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Javelinas will head down to Odessa, Texas and face UT Permian Basin tomorrow at 2 p.m.
For full coverage of Texas A&M-Kingsville volleyball, please follow @JavelinaVB on Twitter and Instagram, like the official Facebook page of Javelina athletics (/JavelinaSports), and subscribe to the JavelinaAthletics YouTube channel.
