Kingsville - In a crucial match for its postseason hopes, the Texas A&M-Kingsville volleyball team swept the UT-Tyler Patriots in three sets, beginning Senior Weekend with a win.

The win goes a long way for TAMUK's Lone Star Conference Tournament hopes, taking down the Patriots, who entered the weekend one game ahead of the Hogs in the conference's standings. The Javelinas have now won three matches in a row and four of their last five. Though the team started slow offensively, it surged to the finish, ending the match with a .267 team hitting percentage and racking up 43 kills across the three sets.

"Overall, it was a good offensive performance, especially in the third set - between two and three, we kind of talked about how if we make a few changes, we could double our hitting percentage," Head Coach Tanya Allen-Gonzalez said. "And they took me to my word and did that, so it became a much more balanced offense as the game progressed. But definitely, these two kids contributed to that highly."

Allen-Gonzalez was referring to the senior rightside hitter pairing of Kendall Harrington and Rylan Pollard. Harrington had a match-high 12 kills on just 22 swings, helping fuel Javelina runs in each of the three sets. Pollard dropped her ninth triple double of the season, collecting 11 kills, 19 assists, 15 digs, and a pair of block assists. The night adds to her lead atop the nation in triple doubles, and becomes the 18th time that she has put up double-digit kills in a match this season.

"That's awesome, I don't keep up with stats like that, so that's good to hear," Pollard said. "I couldn't do it without the rest of my team. You know, everybody else works hard in practice and everything, so everyone contributes, it's great."

Though the first set started as a back-and-forth affair, Kingsville pulled away late to secure the 25-21 win, and never looked back. The team dominated the second and third sets, winning by nine and then six points respectively behind a potent offensive attack. Three different Hogs posted at least nine kills, all of whom had at least a .285 attack percentage. Behind Harrington and Pollard was junior outside hitter Rylie Barnett, who had nine kills and a pair of digs on .286. Despite a slow start, eight of her nine came in the final two sets as she added another wrinkle to the Kingsville offense.

Similarly, three different Javelinas had double-digit digs, led by junior libero Monique Gonzalez, who had 15 to go along with five assists and an ace. Pollard and senior OH Kerigan Baumgartner weren't far behind, Baumgartner had 11 as well as a pair of assists and an ace. 

The team will be back in the SPEC tomorrow for a Senior-Day Showdown with UT-Dallas. First serve is set for 2:00 p.m., with the team's five seniors to be honored just before the beginning of the match.
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