SAN ANGELO – The best of the best in the Lone Star Conference is gathered in San Angelo this weekend for a winner-take-all trip to the NCAA regional tournament and the title of LSC Champions – and first game did not disappoint.
 
Tarleton (23-8, 15-5) overcame a first-set loss to keep their championship hopes alive with a five-set victory over No. 6-seed Texas A&M-Kingsville (17-14, 9-11) Thursday afternoon at the Junell Center.
 
“I'm proud of the girls for not giving up,” said Tarleton head coach Mary Schindler. “When we fell behind in that first game, I think they were thinking 'Oh no, not again,' because we had just lost down there a couple of weeks ago.
 
“Kingsville played a great match but our girls showed a lot of heart and determination today,” she added. “We obviously need to execute better and just play better tomorrow, but I'm proud of the way they battled today.”
 
In the opening set, Texas A&M-Kingsville was in control from the get-go.
 
After a kill by Nikki McNorton made the score 2-2, Kingsville answered with a 5-0 run to lead 7-2 and force a TexAnn timeout.
 
Out of the break, Tarleton got back on the board with a service ace but the Javelinas continued to pour it on with a 10-4 run to extend the lead to 10 at 17-7. Kingsville went on to take eight of the next 14 points to win the set 25-13.
 
Things looked to stay in Kingsville's favor over the first part of the second set as the Javelinas opened the second game with a 5-1 run.
 
With Kingsville leading 8-3, Meg Umbel turned the tide for the TexAnns with back-to-back kill shots and an assisted block – with Kelsey Raglin – to force a Kingsville timeout at 8-6.
 
Kingsville stayed on top, but by a slim margin, as Tarleton finally got rolling when the score reached 14-10. An attack error by Kingsville started a 7-1 Tarleton run to give the TexAnns the lead.
 
Kingsville got to within one at 17-18, but three straight errors pushed Tarleton's lead to 21-17 – its biggest lead of the day – and the TexAnns went on to score four of the last seven points to win the set 25-20 and even the match at one game apiece.
 
In the third set, neither team was able to pull away early.
 
At the 8-8 mark, Tarleton was the first to put together a run with a McNorton kill, a Kingsville error and a Danielle Barker service ace to lead 11-8.
 
Kingsville got – and stayed – within one point until the 14-13 mark when Katie Covell landed a kill to start a 3-0 TexAnn push to extend the lead back to 17-13. Kingsville would respond, however, with a 5-1 run of its own to tie the game at 18-18 and force a Tarleton timeout.
 
Out of the break, Kingsville tacked on three more points to take a 21-18 lead.
 
Tarleton would not be denied, however, as McNorton, Raglin and Stacie Murrah landed back-to-back-to-back kills to knot the score at 21-21 and force a Javelina timeout.
 
Kingsville came out of the break and took a 23-22 lead, but two straight kills by Murrah and a booming kill shot by Covell ended the set in Tarleton's favor, 25-23.
 
The fourth set was more of the same as the TexAnns and Javelinas refused to give an inch, opening the set in a 10-10 deadlock.
 
Kingsville tried to pull away with a 3-0 run to lead 13-10, but Tarleton answered with five straight points on two Kingsville errors and kills by Covell, Murrah and McNorton to lead 15-13 and force a Kingsville timeout.
 
Out of the break, the Javelinas clawed back to tie the score and keep it tied to the 20-20 mark. At that point, they were able to score five of the last seven points to win the set 25-22 and force a deciding game five.
 
In the 15-point fifth game, Kingsville jumped out to another early lead by scoring three of the first four points to take a 3-1 advantage.
 
Tarleton answered with three of the next five to stay within one point at 5-4. Kingsville answered with a 3-1 push to switch sides with an 8-5 lead.
 
Kingsville scored the first point after switching sides to lead 9-5, but Tarleton pulled within two after an attack error and a Raglin kill to force a Javelina timeout at 9-7. Out of the break, Murrah got Tarleton a little closer with a kill off the fingertips of the Kingsville blocker.
 
Murrah and McNorton tied the set with an emphatic block that was just inside the boundary on the next serve. After Kingsville scored two straight to go up 11-9, McNorton and Covell landed back-to-back kills to tie the score yet again at 11-11.
 
The Javelinas retook the lead 12-11 but a kill by McNorton and a block from Umbel and Murrah gave the TexAnns their first lead of the final set at 13-12, forcing another Javelina timeout.
 
Out of the break, Kingsville scored one to tie it at 13-13 but a kill by Murrah – following one of the longest rallies of the entire match – put the TexAnns on top 14-13. They finished off the match on the ensuing point when Kingsville sent their attack attempt into the boundary pole.
 
Danielle Barker posted a double-double for the TexAnns with 27 assists and 11 digs while McNorton just missed her first double-double of the season with 12 kills and eight total blocks.
 
Murrah led the team with 14 kills while Emily Klein led in digs with 26. Raglin added 24 digs while Covell chipped in 18 of her own. Marissa Banda recorded double figure assists with 13.
 
Tarleton is now 5-3 this season in five-set matches and will advance to their third straight LSC Championship semifinals to face the winner of No. 2-seed West Texas A&M and No. 7-seed Abilene Christian tomorrow at 5 p.m.