Box Score STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton State dropped their second match of the season Tuesday night in a five-set loss to Lone Star Conference rival, Texas Woman's.
 
The TexAnns jumped out to a quick lead in the opening set, riding long service runs from Jasmyne Brown and Emily Medlin to a 17-8 start. After TWU cut the Tarleton lead to just four, Tarleton put the game away with a point from Kaitlyn White and a game-winning ace from Hailey Roberts.
 
Tarleton was forced to climb out of an early hole in game two, but did pull to within a pair at 17-19. A Pioneer block on the next point, however, was the start of a 6-2 TWU run to clinch the game and tie the match 1-1 entering intermission.
 
Neither team was able to pull away in the early part of the third set, but Kenya Alexander broke a 16-16 tie with a kill shot and then served up seven straight points, including her first career ace, to give the TexAnns a 22-16 advantage.
 
The Pioneers got within two again, but a service error by TWU and a kill from Ashley Rine secured the set and gave the TexAnns a 2-1 advantage in the match.
 
In the fourth set, errors doomed the TexAnns after opening the game on a 5-1 run.
 
After the initial 5-1 surge to open the set, Tarleton was outscored 24-11 with 14 of the 24 Pioneer points coming off errors. As a team, Tarleton's hitting percentage for the fourth set was (-).028. The momentum for TWU carried into the fifth set for a 15-9 win and a 3-2 match victory.
 
For Tarleton, this drops them to 8-2 on the season and 3-1 in conference play. This is also the seventh fifth-set match the TexAnns have played in the first 10 games. This is the most five-set matches through the first 10 games of any season in school history, trumping the four five-setters over the first 10 games of the 2011 season.
 
The LSC Defensive Player of the Week, Alexander, was the team's leading hitter with 18 kills and a .500 hitting percentage. She also recorded 10 blocks on the night for her second career double-double.
 
White (14) and Roberts (12) also cracked double figures in kills and Roberts' 12 digs gave her the team-leading seventh double-double of the season.
 
Emily Medlin recorded a team-high 54 assists while Katie Covell led the team in digs with 19.
 
Tarleton State will look to rebound when they host Texas A&M-Kingsville Friday night at 6 p.m. in Wisdom Gym.