Box Score STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton State wasted little time getting back in the win column Friday night, sweeping Lone Star Conference rival Texas A&M-Kingsville to improve to 9-2 on the season and 4-1 in league action.
After starting in a stalemate through the first 22 points,
Katie Covell – who started at outside hitter for the first time this season since switching to libero in the preseason – landed a kill off an
Emily Medlin pass for a 12-11 lead that started a 9-2 TexAnn run for a 20-13 lead.
The teams split the final 10 points, but a
Hailey Roberts kill shot from Medlin ended the set 25-19.
In the second set,
Jasmyne Brown and
Kelsey Raglin got the TexAnns rolling with four straight points. The TexAnn tandem assisted each other for blocks on the first two points of the set and then Brown landed a kill, followed by Raglin, for a 4-0 Tarleton lead.
Tarleton rode the momentum to a 20-15 lead before Kingsville struck for a 7-4 push to cut Tarleton's lead to just two at 24-22. Roberts ended the set once more with another kill shot off a pass from Medlin to give the TexAnns a 2-0 match lead heading into the intermission.
The final set went down to the wire as Tarleton overcome an extra-point disadvantage to earn the win.
After the match began with a 13-13 tie over the first 26 points to force a Tarleton timeout, Covell led the charge out of the break with a kill that started a 6-1 Tarleton push for a 19-14 lead.
The Javelinas battled back, however, and tied the match at 22-22 and then took a 23-22 advantage into the final points. As the teams traded points through a Roberts kill to keep the sweep dreams alive at 27-27.
Kenya Alexander switched the match advantage with a kill to make it 28-27 and Roberts ended the set once again, this time with a service ace for the sweep.
Roberts led the TexAnns with 16 kills while Alexander tallied 11. Brown led the team in hitting percentage at .471 with nine kills and one error on 17 attacks.
Ayssa Garcia led the team in digs with 13 in her first start as the libero while Covell had 10 digs. Medlin had a team-high 36 assists.
Tarleton will be off this weekend but will return to action Tuesday night in Wisdom Gym when they host Southeastern Oklahoma at 7 p.m.
