Kingsville - Fueled by more excellent offensive performances, the Texas A&M-Kingsville volleyball team added a pair of wins, a four-set takedown of Lake Erie and a sweep of Southeastern Oklahoma State, on day two of the Third Annual Javelina Volleyball Classic.
Kingsville remains undefeated (3-0) at home this season behind matches of .270 and .351 team attack percentages. Leading the way once again was senior ride side
Kendall Harrington, who totaled 25 kills on 49 swings across the two matches. Her fellow RS, senior
Rylan Pollard, added 21 kills on the day, including a sixth-career triple-double in the second match of the day, posting 10 kills, 21 assists, and 10 digs against SE, after having missed one by just one dig in the Javelinas' first match of the day.
"Well obviously we need everybody on the court to do their job to be successful," junior OH
Rylie Barnett said. "I feel like we had really good defensive plays and our setters really put us in a position to make good swings, that really helped us out."
Barnett posted 10 kills on .381 in the sweep of SE, picking up key kills late in a hard-fought third-set win over the Savage Storm. Though the match against SE ended in three, each of the matches came down to the wire, with the visitors fighting until the end each time, and back-row defense playing a large role in Kingsville's win.
"I thought we played really competitive, I thought our defense stepped up a lot," Harrington said. "I mean, they gave us a lot of energy towards the end of that game that kept us going."
Junior
Monique Gonzalez, filling in for sophomore
Tayae-Renae Garcia, got the start at libero for TAMUK, posting a match-high 13 digs. Just behind her, freshman
Kendra Denoon stepped up, collecting 11 digs, already her second collegiate match with double-digit digs.
While that win capped the day, the Javelinas had already played just hours earlier against Lake Erie, picking up a lopsided, four-set win - with their set wins coming by an average margin of 12 points.
While the team's offense shone once again, with both Pollard and Harrington putting up double-digit kills, it was TAMUK's defense that won it the match, holding the Storm to a .031 attack percentage as a team.Â
"I feel great about it, I feel like our defense was really good this game," sophomore MB
Karrington Crawford said. "We were picking up a lot of stuff, our blocks were getting touches."
TAMUK will be back in action tomorrow at 4:00 p.m. to take on the University of Bridgeport in its fourth and final match of the tournament.
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