KINGSVILLE, Texas – Junior Emily Witt (Rose Hill, Kan.) and seniors Roxanne Morris (Goliad, Texas) and Meghan Merlino (Sacramento, Calilf.) all recorded double-doubles and the No. 10 Texas A&M-Kingsville women's volleyball team put together a 19-25, 25-22, 25-20, 25-15 victory over the St. Edward's Hilltoppers on Wednesday night in Lone Star Conference action at the Steinke Physical Education Center in Kingsville, Texas.
"St. Ed's had some big guns today and they came out swinging," said coach Tanya Allen. "We had to make some adjustments on step out moves and who we were committing our block to. The decision making as far as attacking goes, we were a little tentative in the first set and we really had to step up our aggression and take bigger swings."
Witt finished the night with 37 assists, which led all players, and her 12 digs tied for TAMUK's second most. Morris contributed TAMUK's second-highest kill total with 11, hit .333 and added 11 scoops. Merlino ended the night with 10 smashes against only one error and 12 digs.
Freshman Ayanna Jackson (San Antonio, Texas) led TAMUK in kills with 13 and junior Nicole Murff (San Antonio, Texas) piled up 20 digs to lead all players.
A back-and-forth first set that saw the lead change hands six times swung on a 7-1 run by SEU that saw them go from trailing 15-13 to ahead 20-16. The Javs could never threaten that lead and a Melissa McNeil kill closed out the opener for the Hilltoppers.
Early in the next game, the home team appeared to be in control, using a stretch in which they took eight of nine points to build a 13-6 lead. SEU, however, bounced back by winning 12 of the next 16 rallies to earn an 18-17 advantage, but it was short-lived. Back-to-back kills from Jackson restored order for the Blue and Gold and Merlino added one more shot to make the score 20-18. The sides traded points four times, the last instance putting TAMUK at set point at 24-22 and Murff then capped the frame with an ace.
After watching the Hilltoppers eliminate a three-point margin to tie the score at 12, two well placed attacks by Morris helped restore the Blue and Gold to a four-point edge at 16-12 and that lead would hold up for the rest of the set. When SEU closed to within two, the Javs logged three straight scores, including a rejection by sophomore Tammy Jo Grohman (San Antonio, Texas) and sophomore Kelsi Luckenbach (Calallen, Texas). Luckenbach would later apply the clincher to push her team in front by a set.
The final game of the night was all TAMUK, as evidenced by the .519 hitting percentage posted by Allen's crew in the frame. Three Merlino smashes during a run of four straight points gave the hosts a 10-5 edge and they would later use an 8-1 spurt to increase that difference to nine. Merlino followed up her 10th kill by combining with Grohman for a rejection that put the night's last point on the board.
The next opportunity for Allen and her team will come on Feb. 28th, when they'll visit St. Mary's for a match that will 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. Watch your Javelinas live today on the Javelina Sports Network sponsored by Mendoza's Pharmacy.
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