Kingsville - With its third sweep in a row, the Texas A&M-Kingsville volleyball team took down the UT-Dallas Comets, securing a Senior-Day win, and its fifth win in the last six matches.

With the postseason just around the corner, the Javelinas have perched themselves in a strong position to potentially secure a Lone Star Conference Tournament berth. To get that position, TAMUK has been on a tear, winning four straight matches, including a pair of Senior Weekend sweeps - it has now won 11 straight matches. Prior to today's match, the team's five graduating seniors were honored for their stellar careers in the blue and gold. All five put together excellent matches in the final home match of their respective careers.

"Overall, I feel like they've been really good leaders as a core unit," Head Coach Tanya Allen-Gonzalez said. "So, this year, I feel like part of our success is attributed to their leadership and their focus and doing things the right way, and showing up and just creating a very good culture for the team, and kind of showing the younger ones how it's supposed to be."

Right side hitters Rylan Pollard and Kendall Harrington, setter Elisa Carli, outside hitter Kerigan Baumgartner, and middle blocker Madelyn Wallace all played the final home game of their career in the blue and gold. Pollard finished just shy of a triple-double with eight kills, 19 assists, eight digs, three aces, and three blocks. Harrington led the team with 10 kills, as well as three digs, a block, and an assist. Carli put up 17 assists, a kill, an ace, two digs, and, of course, an ace. Wallace and Baumgartner each had seven kills, Baumgartner added eight digs, a block, and an ace, while Wallace put up three blocks and an ace.

"It was great to have all of my family here, I know all of Madi's family's here, everybody's family's here," Pollard said. "The gym is packed, vibes were exciting, like it was just good, good energy all around."

Despite an impressive fight from the Comets, who are in their first year as a member of the LSC, having moved up to D2 from D3 ahead of this season, Kingsville pulled away midway through each set to secure a huge win for its postseason hopes. The team hit .299 on the match, topping .333 in two of the three sets, racking up 44 total kills. 

Thanks to a number of key tiebreakers, the Javelinas now sit in fifth place (top eight make the tournament) with just two matches remaining in the regular season. Kingsville will now hit the road for its final two matches, as the team heads to San Angelo and Odessa for matches against Angelo St. and UT-Permian Basin on Friday and Saturday respectively.
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