Kingsville - The Texas A&M-Kingsville volleyball team responded to its first home conference loss of the year with a sweep of the St. Mary's Rattlers on Saturday, with the Javelinas' high-powered offense leading them to a 5-2 record in Lone Star Conference play.
The squad dominated offensively, putting up kill totals of 17, 14, and 14 in the three sets respectively, while swinging at .333 for the match. The Javelinas also out-dug, and out-assisted their opponents while putting up six total blocks.
"I think we have to keep them focused on the face that the serve-receive side of the game is where we're going to shine," Head Coach
Tanya Allen-Gonzalez said. "We've got to pass well so that we can have these offensive numbers. I think it's really important. Obviously the LSC is tough, so it's going to be important that we can maintain something really great, and I think our offense is great. If we can keep our hitting percentage high, we're tough to beat."
Kingsville stays in its fifth-place spot in the LSC standings, behind undefeated Lubbock Christian and three one-loss conference teams. TAMUK has yet to play three of those four teams with fewer LSC losses than them - the fourth being West Texas A&M, who they beat in five sets in the last weekend of September.
Two Hogs, junior middle blocker
Natalee Rush and senior rightside hitter
Kendall Harrington, led the match in kills, each with double figures. Rush posted 11 kills on just 14 swings, notching an incredible .786 attack percentage to add to her stellar season average that ranks among the best in the nation.
"I think it's taking balls to get kills that are unconventional, not bouncing it every time," Rush said. "That's a hard standard I really set for myself, but I learned, especially this year, I can get a lot of points just tooling and deep corners, and that's really going to make a difference, especially statistically."
She added two solo blocks and two block assists as well as a pair of assists (ties career-high) on bump sets from the 6'0 Rush, tying her season high. Harrington added 10 kills on a .381 attack percentage, adding to an excellent season average of her own. Junior outside hitter
Rylie Barnett added an efficient (.267) seven kills of her own, as well as a block assist.
As has become the norm for the do-it-all senior,
Rylan Pollard played both RS and setter and stuffed the stat sheet, collecting eight kills (.389), 18 assists, seven digs, and a pair of block assists. Senior OH
Kerigan Baumgartner led the team in the back row with 13 digs, finishing with one more than junior defensive specialist/libero
Monique Gonzalez, who finished the match wearing the libero jersey - she posted 12 digs and a pair of aces. Sophomore DS/L Tayae Garcia added nine digs of her own as well as an assist.
Kingsville will now head back on the road, this time the team is on its way to Oklahoma for a pair of LSC matches. The Javelinas will face Oklahoma Christian at 6:00 p.m. in Edmond, OK on Friday before making their way to Lawton, OK for a 2:00 p.m. contest against Cameron.
