SAN ANGELO, Texas – Three players reached double figures in kills and digs to help push the Texas A&M-Kingsville women's volleyball team past the East Central Tigers, 26-24, 21-25, 25-21, 25-17, on the second day of the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational in San Angelo, Texas at the Stephens Arena at the Junell Center on Saturday morning.
"We did a better job of blocking balls this game," said coach Tanya Allen, "especially after we made adjustments to their faster offense. We are still ironing some things out offensively and defensively, but I'm really proud of how the team is working together. Our wins so far have definitely been team wins."
Sophomore Jackie Alanis (McAllen, Texas) finished the match as TAMUK's leader in kills with 11, but not far behind were junior Kailey Estrada (San Antonio, Texas) and freshman Ayanna Jackson (San Antonio, Texas) with 10 apiece.
No one finished the match with a more digs than junior Nicole Murff (San Antonio, Texas), who logged 21. Sophomore Jordan Schenkel (San Antonio, Texas) scooped up 17 attacks and junior Emily Witt (Rose Hill, Kan.) collected 11 while also leading all players with 29 assists. Freshman Sydney Whitmire (Tarkington, Texas) handed out 11 helpers and sophomore Tammy Jo Grohman (San Antonio, Texas) racked up seven blocks with Estrada tallying six rejections.
The teams traded leads several times in the opening frame, with the Javelinas going ahead 10-7 at one point, only for the Tigers to respond by rattling off seven-in-a-row. TAMUK gradually erased their deficit before a kill and an ace by Jackson evened things at 21. After ECU regained the lead at 23-21, the Javs won five of the next six rallies, with kills by Murff and Alanis putting up the final two points to claim the set.
A late run by ECU allowed the Tigers to take the second set and even the match, but the Javelinas pulled that same trick to steal the third game. ECU raced out to a 15-10 lead to begin the stanza, but TAMUK seized control with a stretch in which they won 10 of 11 points, with Estrada firing off a trio of kills during the run. The Tigers pulled within three multiple times after that, but were denied another comeback opportunity when a ball handling error provided TAMUK's 25th point.
The fourth set began with a few early lead changes before the Javelinas earned a 9-7 advantage. At that point, a pair of blocks from Estrada and Grohman helped trigger a 9-2 run that made the score 18-9. ECU took six of the next eight rallies to close within five at 20-15, but two kills from Jackson assisted the Javelinas in quelling that uprising and when an ECU attack sailed out of bounds moments later, TAMUK had its third straight win.
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