KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville women's volleyball team crafted a season-high .310 hitting percentage and junior Kailey Estrada (San Antonio, Texas) contributed 12 kills on 19 swings as the Javelinas cruised to a 25-16, 25-18, 25-18 sweep of the St. Edward's Hilltoppers in Lone Star Conference action on Tuesday night at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas.
"I thought we did a great job digging balls," said coach Tanya Allen. "We were scrappy and got a lot of balls in play which gave us a lot more opportunities to swing and then I thought we did a nice job attacking. We found openings and we hit for a high percentage, which is always a good thing."
Estrada was the only player in the match to reach double-digits in kills and logged just two errors for a .526 hitting percentage. Freshman Ayanna Jackson (San Antonio, Texas) and seniors Roxanne Morris (Goliad, Texas) and Meghan Merlino (Sacramento, Calif.) each contributed eight kills and junior Emily Witt (Rose Hill, Kan.) added six smashes without an error for a .545 kill rate.
Witt also passed out 35 assists to lead all players and her 12 digs put her streak of double-doubles at three. Witt was one of five Javelinas to reach double figures in digs, where Merlino topped the group with 19. Junior Nicole Murff (San Antonio, Texas) tallied 14, Morris collected 13 and sophomore Jordan Schenkel (San Antonio, Texas) picked up 11.
The Javelinas seized the momentum early in the first set, when, with SEU ahead 6-5, TAMUK rattled off 10 of the next 11 points with Witt and Morris each contributed three kills during that stretch. The Javs never let their guests get closer than 10 points after that and an attack error by the Hilltoppers' Caroline Swan tallied the final point that allowed the home team to pocket the first game.
In the second frame, the Javelinas were again trailing by one before putting together a run, this time of seven straight scores to put them ahead 9-3. SEU chipped away at the lead and eventually whittled it down to two at 17-15, but a Merlino smash was followed by an ace from the senior and Estrada and Jackson soon added kills of their own to up their team's edge to 22-16. That lead proved sufficient for the Blue and Gold and another Jackson finisher clinched a 2-0 TAMUK advantage.
The third set saw the home side never trail and the Javs built a three-point margin that stood at 17-14. From there, two Merlino kills helped spark a 5-1 burst to increase the Javelinas lead to seven and quell any Hilltopper comeback hopes. TAMUK's second sweep of 2021 became official after another SEU attack error.
The Javelinas and Hilltoppers will see each other again at the SPEC on Wednesday, with the start time set for 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. Watch your Javelinas live today on the Javelina Sports Network sponsored by Mendoza's Pharmacy.
