Kingsville - Texas A&M-Kingsvile split its first two matches of the season in the Javelina Volleyball Classic on Friday.
The Javelinas opened their tournament run with an emphatic sweep of Westminster University. They would play in the final match of day one and eventually fall in a five set match against the University of Minnesota Duluth.
In the first match, The Javelinas found themselves in some tricky spots. Set one would be a close 27-25 set in which the Javelinas scored the final three points to take the set. Set three would match the score of set one with Texas A&M-Kingsville quelling a late Griffin rally.
"I knew going into it we would have a lot of offense and I knew it would come down to how we distributed the ball," said Coach
Tanya Allen-Gonzalez. "It's important for the setters to make the right decisions because we can get kills with a number of people."
Megan Stiefer would lead the way for the Javelinas, notching 10 kills.
Ayanna Jackson would add nine kills on 12 attack attempts to go with three block assists.Â
Moving to the second match, the Javelinas would find themselves down a set early, but would come up with clutch plays to even the match up after set two. Another close set three win to put themselves in position to win the match, a big set four from the Bulldogs would even it up at two a-piece.
In the all-important set five, UMD would jump out to an early 8-3 lead. However, the Javelinas would get within one point after a 5-2 run that started with a
Rylan Pollard kill. It was too little too late however as the Bulldogs would close the match out shortly after.
Five Javelinas scored in double figures, Stiefer led the way with 13, Jackson finished with 11 and Pollard,
Natalee Rush and
Kendall Harrington all had 10 kills.
The Javelinas will be back in action Saturday against Southern Nazarene at 11 am followed by a 3 pm tilt against Missouri Southern State at 3 pm with the matches being streamed on Flosports.
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