Kingsville - In its first of three straight home matches, the Texas A&M-Kingsville volleyball team got a key win, taking down the Texas A&M-International Dustdevils in three sets.

The win moves the Javelinas to 8-5, solidifying their chances to make the Lone Star Conference tournament with just four matches remaining in their regular season schedule. Kingsville's defense was strong start-to-finish, totalling 10.0 blocks, with three different hogs posting at least four block assists.

"Blocks feel great, of course, I mean we work a lot on blocking, I feel like in practice our coaches emphasize picking up our defense and I feel like it's showing," sophomore middle blocker Karrington Crawford said.

Crawford had four block assists, while senior rightside hitter/setter Rylan Pollard had six and senior MB Madelyn Wallace had five. The back row held up defensively as well, as the squad out-dug TAMIU 57-43. Pollard and sophomore DS Tayae-Renae Garcia led the Javelinas in digs, each with nine, while a pair of seniors, S Elisa Carli and outside hitter Kerigan Baumgartner, each put up seven. Baumgartner added a match-high three aces, four kills, two block assists, and a solo stuffie. Carli added two aces of her own, 16 assists, and a kill.

All three of the sets began as back-and-forth contests, with each team countering a short run from their opponent with one of their own through the first points of the set. While Kingsville pulled away midway through the first, cruising to a 25-16 win, the second stayed tight right down to the finish. The set needed extra points to decide it, as the difference never exceeded three points at any point in what ended up being a 27-25 TAMUK win. The third, however, was all Hogs, with the team using a 5-0 run to jump to a decisive, 18-10, lead in a set that saw them complete the sweep 25-17.

Kingsville swung just shy of .200, as three Javelinas put up at least eight kills. They were led by junior OH Rylie Barnett, who put together a strong stat line of 11 kills on .364 along with five digs and a block assist. Pollard and fellow senior RS Kendall Harrington each added eight. 

The Javelinas now stare down their final home weekend of the season, with home matches at 6:00 p.m. on Friday against UT-Tyler and 2:00 p.m on Saturday against UT-Dallas next weekend. Saturday will be Senior Day, with the match set to be the final time that the team's five seniors play in the blue and gold in the SPEC.
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