AUSTIN, Texas – Senior Roxanne Morris (Goliad, Texas) stuffed the stat sheet with a line that included a career-high 45 assists, 17 digs, seven kills and three total blocks to help lead the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's volleyball team to a 28-26, 22-25, 25-22, 26-24 opening night victory over the St. Edward's Hilltoppers in Lone Star Conference action on Tuesday evening at the Recreation and Convocation Center in Austin, Texas.
This makes seven straight seasons the Javelinas have been victorious in their first match, a streak that began in 2014.
"Our play wasn't always clean tonight," said coach Tanya Allen, "but I'm really proud of the girls for finding a way to win. I think tonight showed us a lot of the thing we have work on, but it was also so exciting to be back on the court and competing."
Morris' 45 helpers were the most in a match by a Javelina since Emily North had 48 in a win over St. Mary's on Sept. 22nd 2018. Her 17 digs were eclipsed only by junior Nicole Murff (San Antonio, Texas), who racked up 30 and sophomore Jordan Schenkel (San Antonio, Texas) added 11.
In the kills department, three different players contributed at least 10, including junior Kailey Estrada (San Antonio, Texas), who matched her career-high with 13 and hit .346 on 26 attacks. Sophomore Kelsi Luckenbach (Calallen, Texas) set a new career-high with 11 smashes and freshman Ayanna Jackson (San Antonio, Texas) tallied 10 kills in her Javelinas debut.
Neither side built a lead larger than four points in the first set, but the Hilltoppers found themselves with two set points when they forged a 24-22 lead. Back-to-back errors by the home team tied the score and SEU later let two more chances to clinch the frame go to waste, one courtesy of an Allison Stachowiak (Brownsville, Texas) kill, the second on another error. The Javelinas then seized their chance to steal the set. Morris gave her team the lead with an ace before another Hilltopper faux pas gave TAMUK the opener.
After trailing 10-9 early in the second game, the Javs logged 11 of the next 17 points to grab a late, 20-17 advantage, but this time it was SEU's turn to mount a comeback. They scored five straight points to jump ahead by two and, after TAMUK drew even at 22, rattled off three more in-a-row to put the match at one set apiece.
A 7-1 run got the Javelinas started in the third, but SEU would later reel off six straight points and move ahead 13-11. The Javelinas quickly evened the score and there would be six more ties in the set before a Jackson kill and a Madeleine Stolzer (San Antonio, Texas) ace allowed the Javs to creep ahead, 23-21. After the Hilltoppers got to within one, they committed back-to-back errors, allowing the Javelinas to clinch the game and move a single set from the win.
The lead swung back-and-forth multiple times in the early moments of the final frame. TAMUK led 5-2, then SEU went up 8-5, only to their guests regain the momentum with seven straight points, a run that included three kills from Estrada and two courtesy of freshman Juliana Chavez (San Antonio, Texas). The Javelinas nearly maintained their lead for the rest of the game, but at match point, SEU scored three-in-a-row to knot the score at 24. The Javs would not let this one slip away however. One more smash by Jackson and another attack error by the Hilltoppers put the match in the win column for the Javelinas.
The Javelinas and Hilltoppers will go at it again on Wednesday, squaring off in a match scheduled to start at 6 p.m. Keep up with Javelina volleyball all season long by following @Javelina_VB and @JavelinaSports on Twitter, @JavelinaVB and @JavelinaSports on Instagram, liking TAMUK Volleyball on Facebook, subscribing to the Javelina Athletics YouTube Channel and visiting Javelinaathletics.com.
