FORT WORTH – Tarleton (16-5, 10-2) won its fifth straight game Tuesday night with a four-set win against Texas Wesleyan (16-11) in the first of a two-game hiatus from Lone Star Conference action.
 
Tarleton trailed early after falling behind 9-7, but a kill by Meg Umbel started a 4-0 push to put the TexAnns on top for good. Texas Wesleyan got to within one at 12-12, but the TexAnns answered with another 4-0 run to extend their lead to 16-11.
 
The Rams got within three at 21-18 but a Stacie Murrah kill was the first of four straight Tarleton points to take the first set 25-18.
 
In the second set, Tarleton had a chance to go up 2-0 with a 23-21 lead late in the set, but Texas Wesleyan rallied for four straight points at the end of the set to claim the game 25-23 and even the match.
 
Tarleton got off to a strong 5-1 start in the third set on the strength of two Ram errors and kills by Murrah, Umbel and Katie Covell. The closest Texas Wesleyan would get over the rest of the set was three points at 12-9, but back-to-back kills from Jazmine Green and Murrah put Tarleton up by five at 14-9.
 
Texas Wesleyan ended the set with a service error to give Tarleton the third set 25-20.
 
The TexAnns completely dominated the final set, which started with Tarleton scoring the first five points of the set on two Ram errors, kills by Murrah and Nikki McNorton and a service ace by Danielle Barker.
 
Texas Wesleyan got to 6-3, but Covell landed a kill to start an 18-7 TexAnn run to put the TexAnns in a fast, game-point situation. Umbel ended the match with a kill.
 
Tarleton return s home Friday night for their last non-conference game of the regular season, hosting St. Edward's at 6 p.m. There will be a gift card raffle for the fans at Friday's contest.