KINGSVILLE, Texas – Junior Roxanne Morris (Goliad, Texas) came within two kills of a triple-double and sophomore Kailey Estrada (San Antonio, Texas) posted her team's best hitting percentage of the season and these two performances helped spur the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's volleyball team to a 25-14, 23-25, 25-17, 25-15 victory over the St. Mary's Rattlers in Lone Star Conference action on Friday night in Kingsville, Texas at the Steinke Physical Education Center.
"I thought we did a very good job on offense tonight," said coach Tanya Allen. "Our middles hit for an extremely high percentage and I think that opened it up for our pin attackers and they did a good job of making good decisions and executing."
Morris led the Javelinas in assists with 23, was credited with 14 digs and added eight kills for good measure. She's now put up four straight double-doubles.
Estrada was one of the leaders for a TAMUK offense that hit .274, their fifth-best hitting percentage of the year. The sophomore from San Antonio went errorless on 17 attacks while rolling up 11 kills, her second-highest total of 2019. Her kill rate of .647 was the highest by a Javelina with at least 10 attacks since Haley Hutchinson hit .800 against East Central on Aug. 25th, 2018. Estrada added a game-high seven blocks.
Also excelling at the net for the Blue and Gold were seniors Talleyshia Morris (Tulsa, Okla.) and Melanie Casteel (Dallas, Texas). Morris led all players with 13 smashes and a .423 kill rate to go with four rejections. Casteel was not far behind with two blocks and 12 finishers, marking her highest kill total since Oct. 1st against Lubbock Christian.
Freshman Jordan Schenkel (San Antonio, Texas) finished with the Javs' highest dig total at 20. Junior Meghan Merlino (Sacramento, Calif.) and sophomore Lauren Kadilis (Spring Branch, Texas), who also had 19 assists, both logged 15 scoops.
The first four points of the match went to the Javelinas, the final two on rockets from Casteel, and they spent the rest of the first set pulling away from their challengers. The closest the Rattlers got was three points and only twice did the visitors win back-to-back rallies. TAMUK outhit StMU .308 to -.030 and Talleyshia Morris capped the game with her fourth kill.
The Rattlers responded with by evening the match, thanks in large part to a 7-1 run that transformed an 11-8 deficit into a 15-12 lead. Nine of the next 11 points were notched by the Javs to put them in front 21-17 before another StMU run ended the set. A kill and two aces from Julia Deals sparked an 8-2 burst that was capped off by a smash from Alissa Tolbert and ended with the sides even at one set apiece.
The Javelinas used a stretch in which they took eight of nine points to turn a 4-3 lead into a 12-4 margin in the third stanza and Estrada contributed multiple kills along the way. After the Rattlers cut the deficit to four at 15-11, TAMUK outscored them 10-6 the rest of the way and Casteel, Roxanne Morris and Talleyshia Morris fired off multiple kills before a ball handling error by Lindsey Kaufman tallied point No. 25.
St. Mary's jumped ahead 5-2 to start the fourth set before six of the next seven points went to the Blue and Gold, who gained an 8-6 edge and later used a streak of five-in-a-row to increase their lead to 14-8. The Rattlers fought back to make the score 15-13, but the Javs secured the match by winning 10 of the last 12 points, the clincher being supplied by sophomore Kelsi Luckenbach (Calallen, Texas) with an ace.
The final regular season match of 2019 pits the Javelinas against the St. Edward's Hilltoppers on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the SPEC. It will also be Senior Day for Javelina Volleyball. 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.
