STEPHENVILLE – Hailey Roberts and Kenya Alexander combined for 40 kills Saturday afternoon to lead Tarleton to a 3-1 win over Midwestern State for the TexAnns' eighth straight win.
 
The eight-game win streak by Tarleton marks the sixth time in school history the TexAnns have won at least eight in a row and the fourth such streak by a Mary Schindler-led TexAnn squad.
 
Hailey Roberts got the afternoon started with the first of her 30 kills on the first volley of the match to get the Tarleton offense started. Her kill started a 6-1 TexAnn run to open things up, over which the sophomore from Cedar Park blasted four kills off passes from Chandler Gow.
 
After Midwestern State pulled as close as four at 11-7, Gow tipped a kill shot on the second ball of the volley off a pass from Kelsey Raglin to extend the TexAnn lead to 12-7. The Gow kill shot started a 14-6 Tarleton run down the stretch that was capped off with a Roberts kill for the final point in a 25-13 TexAnn victory in the opening set.
 
Midwestern State answered back to keep things tight throughout the second set and the Mustangs took a slim 20-19 lead late in the set to force a Tarleton timeout.
 
Out of the break, Tarleton scored four straight on back-to-back kills from Roberts and then back-to-back blocks from Alexander and Gow to turn the tide of the set and put the TexAnns up 23-20 and force a Midwestern State timeout at 23-20. Midwestern added two points on a kill and an error, but Roberts landed two more kills in the final two points to put Tarleton up 2-0 in the match.
 
After the Mustangs stole game three with a 4-1 run down the stretch for a 25-21 win, Tarleton answered back by starting the fourth set with three straight points. The TexAnns maintained a healthy lead throughout the final set and ended the match on a 3-1 run with a kill from Roberts, ace from Marissa Banda, and a kill from Meg Umbel for the win.
 
Roberts (30) led the way with her fifth 30-kill game of the season. She landed 30 kills on 63 attempts with just nine errors for a .333 hitting percentage for the match. Meanwhile, Alexander also cracked double figures with 10 kills for her sixth double-figure kill performance and second in the last three games.
 
Chandler Gow recorded her fourth career double-double – and second straight – with 53 assists and 10 digs. It marks her fifth 50-assist game of the season. Ayssa Garcia led the way with 22 digs for her fifth 20-dig game of the season.
 
Tarleton will return to action next weekend for Friday-Saturday matches against Texas Woman's and Texas A&M-Commerce at 6 p.m. and 2 p.m.