DALLAS, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville volleyball team matched up in the second round of the Lone Star Conference tournament Thursday where they took down the DBU Patriots in four sets (25-20, 25-11, 19-25, 25-19).
The Javelinas (21-9, 11-5 LSC) came into Friday after defeating the fourth seeded UAFS Lions to take them to the semifinal round of the LSC Tournament three sets to one.
"It was a fantastic win" said head coach
Tanya Allen-Gonzalez. "I'm extremely proud of our performance and that's a really good team we just beat so we obviously had to do a lot of things right and I think we're peaking at the right time".
The Javelinas ended the day with a .179 hitting percentage and 10 blocks on the evening. Junior middle blocker
Ayanna Jackson had seven blocks of her own, and eight kills on the day, while Senior
Jackie Alanis lead the day in kills having 10 and a .320 hitting percentage.
Set one began with the Javelinas coming out of the gates hot leading 5-2 before DBU went on 5-2 run tying things up at seven a piece. The set would see five more ties before DBU went on a 3-0 run making it 12-15. The Javelinas, however, would go on two separate 3-0 runs getting the set to 19-17 before a DBU timeout. The timeout was unable to stop the momentum as the Javelinas went on a 6-3 run ending set one 25-20.
Set number two saw the Javelinas on fire as they rattled off four straight making it a 4-1 set early. DBU would get within two at 10-8 before the Javelinas would take off going on an 11-1 run putting the set at 21-9. The Patriots were finally able to get to ten before the Javelinas went on a 4-1 run ending the set 25-11.
The third set saw the Javelinas and Patriots battling for the lead as there were six ties and three lead changes. The last tie at 15-15 before the Patriots took off on a 5-2 run getting to 20 first and forcing TAMUK to take a timeout. Out of the timeout the Patriots would continue on their roll going on another 5-2 run ending the third set 19-25.
Set four saw the Javelinas playing catch-up early as they went down 0-5 before an 8-0 run out of a timeout down 7-11 brought them back on top 15-11. The Patriots would rattle off two getting within two before the Javelinas went on another run, this time a 5-0 run putting them up 20-13. DBU would fight, going 3-3 with the Javelinas before the Javelinas got it to match point 24-16. The Patriots not going into the night quietly going on a 3-0 run before a well-timed timeout then a
Jeri Ficklen kill that sent them in to the championship game.
The Javelinas are headed to the final round of the Lone Star Conference Tournament facing no. 2 seed West Texas A&M. First serve at 3:00 P.M in the Berg Center in Dallas, Texas.
Fans can follow Javelina volleyball all season long via Javelinaathletics.com, where they'll find links to live video and stats and a recap at the end of each match.
Stay up-to-date with everything related to Javelina volleyball all season long by following @Javelina_VB and @JavelinaSports on X, @JavelinaVB and @JavelinaSports on Instagram, liking TAMUK Volleyball on Facebook, subscribing to the Javelina Athletics YouTube Channel and visiting Javelinaathletics.com
