COMMERCE, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's volleyball team suffered its fifth loss of the season on Saturday, falling 25-10, 26-24, 25-20 to the No. 23 Texas A&M-Commerce Lions at The Field House in Commerce, Texas.
A .526 attack percentage aided Commerce (9-4, 2-2) in taking the first set. The home team took eight of the first nine rallies and soon added a run of six straight to go ahead 15-3. The Lions cruised the rest of way for a 1-0 lead. The Javelinas (7-5, 2-2) could only manage a hit rate of -.174 in the stanza.
Commerce attempted to quickly gain control of the second set, moving ahead 4-0, but the Javelinas took eight of the next nine, a spurt that was capped with a block, courtesy of juniors Talleyshia Morris (Tulsa, Okla.) and Melanie Casteel (Dallas, Texas). Runs continued from both teams, with a 5-0 Commerce burst answered by TAMUK stealing six of seven and eventually taking a 18-14 lead. Unfortunately for the visitors, Commerce had one more run in them, winning six straight for a 21-18 edge. The Javelinas came back to tie at 24-24, but couldn't take the lead. A block by Bina Njikam and Daniela Santos secured the second game for the home side.
The Lions used a 10-2 run to break a 5-5 tie, but the Javelinas were undeterred. They put together a 10-2 rally of their own that included four smashes from senior Madison Brabham (Kingwood, Texas). Once again, however, Commerce had a response. They set themselves up with match point by taking six of the next eight points and sealed the win thanks to a kill by Njikam.
Morris posted the top hitting percentage for the Javelinas at .417 while Brabham led the team with nine finishers. Freshman Emily North (Red Oak, Texas) led the squad with 10 assists while freshman Nicole Murff (San Antonio, Texas) totaled 10 digs. TAMUK's hitting percentage of .011 is their lowest since Sept. 6th of last season against Augustana.
The Lions crafted a hitting percentage of .277, the highest mark allowed by the Javelinas through 12 matches in 2018. Njikam posted a kill rate of .636 with eight kills on 11 swings while Jaryn Wacker put up a game-high 12 kills. Celeste Vela collected 18 assists while Daniela Santos amassed 14 digs, both of which led all participants.
On Tuesday, the Javelinas will get to enjoy all the comforts of home when they host St. Mary's at 6 p.m. at the Stienke Physical Education Center. To keep up with everything related to Javelina volleyball all season long, follow @JavelinaVB on Twitter and @javelinasports on Instagram, like Javelina Volleyball on Facebook and visit Javelinasports.com.
