KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's volleyball team hit .337 as a team while holding the Cameron Aggies to hitting percentage of .086 and a side-out percentage of 38.4 as TAMUK cruised to a sweep, 25-12, 25-19, 25-11, on Friday evening in Lone Star Conference action at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas.
The Javelinas improve to 6-2 in the LSC and 16-7 overall with the win. Cameron now stands at 1-8 in conference play and 5-14 overall.
"It was good win," said coach Tanya Allen. "I thought we did a very good job on offense. We took a lot of good swings and I feel like we capitalized on pretty good passing from our serve receive."
The .337 kill rate put up by the Javs is their highest in 2019 and the program's best since they hit .341 in a win over East Central on Aug. 25th, 2018. The team's eight errors are the fewest in a match since a win over Limeston in 2017, when the Javelinas finished with only seven mistakes. With Cameron hitting at .086, it is also the sixth time in the current season TAMUK has held its opponent to a percentage under .100.
Senior Talleyshia Morris (Tulsa, Okla.), junior Meghan Merlino (Sacramento, Calif.) and sophomores Kailey Estrada (San Antonio, Texas) and Jordan Wonders (Corpus Christi, Texas) each logged eight kills with hit rates above .300. Estrada led the way with a mark of .615, the highest hitting percentage by a Javelina since Haley Hutchinson hit .800 against ECU last season.
Sophomore Lauren Kadilis (Spring Branch, Texas) posted the highest assist total with 20 and sophomore Nicole Murff (San Antonio, Texas) led the way in digs with 15.
The first set was nearly evenly matched in early the going, with TAMUK leading 7-5 at one point, but from there, it was all Javelinas. The home team won 16 of the next 19 points, including an 8-0 run over one period, to go ahead 23-8. Soon after, a smash from Wonders earned her team a win in set one.
The Aggies put up a much tougher fight in the second set, taking a quick 4-1 lead, but two more kills by Wonders helped TAMUK gain the momentum that eventually put them ahead, 10-7. Cameron twice got within one point of their hosts, once after taking four straight points to make the score 18-17, but the Javs wouldn't relinquish the lead. They won seven of the next nine rallies to clinch the frame, an ace from Merlino providing the 25th point.
It was all Blue and Gold in the final game, as the Javelinas broke a 4-4 tie with four straight points and never looked back. The lead for the Javs was stretched to 23-9 after taking 13 of 15 over one stretch. The final two points came courtesy of a kill by sophomore Mia Soto (San Antonio, Texas) and an ace from freshman Jordan Schenkel (San Antonio, Texas).
The second of two matches in two days at home for the Javelinas will take place on Saturday at 2 p.m., when they'll host the Arkansas-Fort Smith Lions. To keep up with Javelina volleyball all season long, follow @JavelinaVB and @JavelinaSports on Twitter and Instagram, visit TAMUK Volleyball on Facebook, subscribe to the Javelina Athletics YouTube Channel and visit Javelinaathletics.com. Watch your Javelinas live today on the Javelina Sports Network sponsored by Mendoza's Pharmacy.
