COMMERCE, Texas – The 2019 Lone Star Conference schedule got off to a difficult start for the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's volleyball team, as they suffered a 25-20, 25-22, 25-20 defeat against the No. 21 A&M-Commerce Lions in LSC action on Friday night at The Field House in Commerce, Texas.
"We played hard and battled," said coach Tanya Allen. "We were in a lot of long rallies and I thought we did a very good job on defense. I saw some improvement in some of the players but we have to learn from this and keep growing."
Two different Javelinas reached double figures in digs with sophomore Nicole Murff (San Antonio, Texas) collecting 18 and junior Meghan Merlino (Sacramento, Calif.) totaling 10 with five kills. Sophomore Lauren Kadilis (Spring Branch, Texas) led the Javelinas (8-4, 0-1) in assists with 12 while senior Melanie Casteel (Dallas, Texas) finished the day with eight kills, a team-high.
Commerce (5-3, 1-0) took six of the night's first eight points, but freshman Tammy Jo Grohman (San Antonio, Texas) sparked a 5-0 run for TAMUK with a block assist and a kill, putting the Javelinas ahead, 7-6. That advantage proved to be short-lived, however, as the hosts took the next four rallies and didn't trail again in the frame. At one point, the Javs got within one at 18-17, only to see A&M-C win seven of the final 10 points for a 1-0 edge in games.
The Javelinas started the next frame looking to even the match and jumped out a 9-5 lead in a stretch that included two kills from Merlino. The Lions then stole the momentum with six straight scores to go up by two. The lead changed hands two more times before A&M-C used an 8-2 for a 22-18 advantage. TAMUK won four of the next six rallies, but Sydney Anderson's 11th kill gave the set to Commerce.
Six consecutive ties started the third frame before the Lions slowly moved in front. With Commerce leading 12-9, the Javelinas drew to within one, but a 9-1 spurt by the home team proved to be too much for TAMUK to overcome. They got as close as four before a Riley Davidson smash concluded the evening.
The Javelinas were held to a .119 hitting percentage, their second-lowest of the season, with 34 kills and 19 errors on 126 attacks. They were also held without an ace for the first time in 2019. Defensively, the Blue and Gold finished with 59 digs and six blocks.
A&M-C hit to the tune of a .181 kill rate, totaling 45 kills and 20 errors. At the service line, they uncorked six aces and also ran up 59 digs and seven blocks.
On Saturday, the Javelinas will play the second match on their conference schedule when they visit UT Tyler at 1 p.m. 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.
