DENTON – With a five-set victory over Texas Woman's (21-7, 18-5) Friday night, the Tarleton TexAnns (21-8, 14-5) snapped a three-game losing skid and secured the most conference wins in a single season in school history.
This win was No. 14 in conference action this season, topping last season's 13 LSC wins for the most since joining the NCAA in 1994.
Texas Woman's came out strong, building and maintaining an early lead. The Pioneers led by as much as six points as late in the set as 21-15,
After
Katie Covell landed a kill shot to bring the Tarleton deficit to five at 21-16, the Tarleton sophomore then served up seven straight points to give the TexAnns their first lead of the night. Covell's seven serves came on the strength of three TWU errors, three kills by
Meg Umbel and one by
Jazmine Green.
Over the Tarleton run, Texas Woman's called two timeouts trying to shift the momentum but the damage was done as Umbel landed her fourth kill in a seven-point stretch to seal the game 25-22.
In the second set, the lead changed back-and-forth over the first 32 points leading to a 16-16 tie.
Green landed a kill to put Tarleton up 17-16 and start a 7-1 TexAnn run. The six points after the Green kill came on three TWU errors, two
Kelsey Raglin kills and a block by Green and
Nikki McNorton to put Tarleton up 23-17.
TWU scored three of the next five points, but the two TexAnn points – on kills by McNorton and
Stacie Murrah – were enough to seal the set for Tarleton.
In the third set, Tarleton jumped out to a 5-1 lead but Texas Woman's would not be denied.
Texas Woman's knotted the score at 7-7 and the teams had nine ties until the 23-23 mark. Tarleton pushed the match to game point with a kill by Green, but TWU answered with three straight points to force a game four.
In the fourth game, Tarleton built an early lead to 11-8. However, the Pioneers battled back with a 12-5 run to lead 20-16 before a
Kaylea Beck kill ended the run. Beck served the TexAnns within one at 20-19, but TWU pulled away late to force a fifth set with a 25-21 win.
Tarleton dominated the fifth set, putting the Pioneers away early with a 6-0 run to open the set. Texas Woman's never scored back-to-back points the in the fifth set as Tarleton cruised to the win.
The TexAnns had three players record a double-double on the night. In her first game since Sept. 7,
Marissa Banda recorded her first collegiate double-double with 20 assists and 10 digs, while Covell and
Danielle Barker also had double-doubles with 11 kills and 22 digs and 30 assists and 20 digs, respectively.
Umbel had a career-high 13 kills and led the team with a .308 hitting percentage. McNorton also had 13 kills while Murrah (12) and Covell (11) also cracked double figures. Raglin and
Emily Klein also cracked double figures in digs with 11 and 10, respectively.
The TexAnns will wrap up the regular season with a 7 p.m. match against Texas A&M-Commerce tomorrow.
