Jackson, TN - The season began with a pair of win for the Texas A&M-Kingsville volleyball team at the Union Volleyball Classic, taking down Harding in five hard-fought sets before bringing out the brooms for a three-set win over Lane College.

The matches were the first two of four that the team will play in Tennessee in just over 24 hours to open its season. It will also face off with Drury (9:00 a.m.) and Arkansas-Fort Smith (5:30 p.m.) tomorrow to finish its opening weekend. 

"I'm very proud of this team for their overall performance today," Head Coach Tanya Allen-Gonzalez said. "It's physically grueling to play a tough five-set match and turn around and play another match two hours later. But, the girls showed a lot of toughness and talent and were able to get two wins."

At the top of a number of incredible performances in the team's match-one win over Harding was senior RS/S Rylan Pollard's fourth career triple double, she posted an almost-unbelievable 17 kills, 28 assists, 12 digs, and three total blocks. Not only did she tie her career-high in kills, but she also crushed her single-match career high in assists as well. Not far behind her was senior RS Kendall Harrington, who put up a career-high 16 kills on a .519 attack percentage.

"Rylan and Kendall were absolutely phenomenal on offense today," Allen-Gonzalez said. "Not only were they taking big rips, but they also moved the ball very well."

Senior setter Elisa Carli made up the other half of the setter rotation in TAMUK's 6-2, racking up 30 assists, tied for her career high. Sophomore libero Tayae-Renae Garcia joined her teammates on the list of stellar, career-high performances with a single-match high of 22 digs to go along with five service aces. 

"Elisa looks composed and confident - she understands the offense very well and I trust her decision making, which is crucial with setters," Allen-Gonzalez said. "Tayae's serve-receive was lights out, and she was incredible from the service line."

Overall, Kingsville had to scrap and claw its way to a win over the Bison, losing sets two and three by a combined five points after taking the first set 25-15. TAMUK then staved off a late run from Harding to take set four, 25-22, to force a tie-breaking fifth set where the team dominated, grabbing a 15-6 win.

Though the second match of the day finished in just three sets, it was no less difficult to get a win, as the Javelinas hit just .138 for the match, and won the match by just 12 combined points, including taking extra points to get a second-set win.

Kingsville will be back on the court tomorrow bright and early for a 9:00 a.m. first serve against Drury before finishing out its time at the tournament with a match against UAFS, set to begin at 5:30 p.m..
  Read Full Article