ODESSA, Texas – Senior Madison Brabham (Kingwood, Texas) became the 10th player in program history to reach 1,000 kills on Friday night, but that proved to be one of few bright spots for the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's volleyball team, as they were topped by the UT Permian Basin Falcons, 25-17, 25-16, 25-22 in Lone Star Conference action at the Falcon Dome in Odessa, Texas.
Brabham reached the benchmark in the second set with her fourth smash of the evening and added five more kills before the night was done, moving her into ninth place on the program's all-time list. She's the first player to join the 1,000 kill club since Ashley Bukowski reached the mark on Nov. 17th, 2016 in a match against Cameron.
On this night, Brabham's nine kills were a team-high while junior Talleyshia Morris (Tulsa, Okla.) posted a hitting percentage of .417 making only one error compared to six kills on 12 attacks. Freshman Emily North (Red Oak, Texas) collected her eighth double-double of the season with 13 assists and 10 digs. Freshman Nicole Murff (San Antonio, Texas) had a match-high 14 digs.
An early run of six straight points put the Falcons up 6-1 in the opening frame before the Javelinas rallied to close to within one at 9-8. UTPB then used a 7-0 spurt to increase their advantage to eight and gained the breathing room they needed to move ahead, 1-0, as an ace by Skyler Friel provided the 25th point. The Falcon defense limited TAMUK to six kills compared to seven attack errors in the frame.
Another quick start to the second set staked UTPB to a 7-2 lead. The Javelinas got within three at 9-6, but the Falcons were able to keep them at bay as they forged a 2-0 lead. They closed out the set by taking six of final eight points before a kill from Friel sealed the deal. The Falcon offense converted seven kills out of 19 attacks for a hitting percentage of .211 in the second set.
A pair of attack errors gave the first two points of the third game to the Blue and Gold, but seven straight scores for UTPB provided them with an 11-5 lead. TAMUK raced back to tie with a stretch that saw them take 10 of 12, but they were unable to seize the lead. The Falcons closed out the evening by grabbing six of the final nine points, securing the sweep.
The Falcon attack was led by Friel, who went errorless on 23 attacks with 13 spikes for a .565 kill rate. Aquincia Strambler added 12 kills with a .455 success rate. Analise Lucio led all players with 20 helpers.
As a team, UTPB put together a hitting percentage of .308, their second-highest mark of the season, sending in 44 kills on 104 attacks. The Javelinas ended the match with a percentage of .059, totaling 27 kills on 101 attacks.
Another LSC match is on the docket for TAMUK on Saturday, when they'll pay a visit to Deming, N.M. to take on the Western New Mexico Mustangs. To stay up-to-date with Javelina volleyball, follow @JavelinaVB on Twitter and @javelinasports on Instagram, like Javelina Volleyball on Facebook and visit Javelinasports.com.
