KINGSVILLE, Texas – Freshman Ayanna Jackson (San Antonio, Texas) fired off 13 kills, hit .650 on 20 attacks and added six blocks to help the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's volleyball team cruise past the Western New Mexico Mustangs, 25-20, 25-17, 25-17 on Friday night in Lone Star Conference action at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas.
The victory marked the 100th win in Lone Star Conference competition for Javelina coach Tanya Allen, making her the first coach in program history to reach that milestone.
"It's very exciting," said Allen, "but all the credit goes to my amazing athletes, my great staff and our supportive administration. We are a successful program because of all of them."
This win keeps TAMUK's perfect home record intact and bumps them up to 12-4 overall and 6-4 in the LSC. WNMU is 4-15 for the season and 3-7 in league play.
Jackson's .650 hitting percentage is the highest by any Javelina with at least 10 kills since Lexi Wick hit .667 on Sept. 8th, 2017 against Northwestern Okla and Jackson's six blocks tied with junior Kailey Estrada (San Antonio, Texas) for a match-high. Estrada and senior Kelsi Luckenbach (Calallen, Texas) collected seven kills with Luckenbach hitting .429, while sophomore Jordan Schenkel (San Antonio, Texas) led both teams with 10 digs. The match's assist leader was junior Emily Witt (Rose Hill, Kan.) with 30.
The Javelinas shook off a slow start that saw them drop the first five points and stormed back to win the set by five. After cutting the WNMU lead to three at 11-8, the Javelinas won seven-in-a-row, including a pair of successful attacks by Jackson. The Mustangs attempted to get a couple runs going to regain the lead, but the Javs kept their guests at arms-length before freshman Allison Stachowiak (Brownsville, Texas) finished the frame with her second kill.
In the second game, the early portion of the set once again belonged to the visitors, who jumped out to a 4-1 advantage, but the Javs quickly erased that deficit by winning five of the next six rallies. The Javelinas later used a 6-1 run that included two Mia Delgado (Corpus Christi, Texas) aces to go ahead 13-9 and they never led by fewer than two after that. A pair of Jordan Schenkel (San Antonio, Texas) aces during a 5-0 run helped stretch the Javelina lead to seven at 19-12 and that also proved to the be the final margin in the frame, which was capped by a block courtesy of Jackson and Stachowiak.
In the final set, it was TAMUK that led early until a streak of four straight for WNMU put the Mustangs ahead, 10-9, but it was all Blue and Gold after that. The Javs put together a stretch in which they won 11 of 13 points for a 20-12 edge and they never let their opponents come up for air after that. The night ended on a WNMU service to clinch another milestone for the Javelina head coach.
The next team scheduled to visit Kingsville is the UT Permian Basin Falcons, who will square off with the Javelinas on Saturday at 1 p.m. Stay up-to-date with everything related to 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.
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