STEPHENVILLE -- In a battle of first-place teams where Tarleton was riding an eight-game winning streak and a perfect 7-0 mark at home, they took on Texas Woman's who was on a seven-game winning streak of their own and 5-0 on the road.
 
Tarleton proved that the home-court advantage of Wisdom Gym was too much for Texas Woman's as the TexAnns continue to sit atop the Lone Star Conference standings with a 3-1 win over the Pioneers and swept the season series for the first time since 2012.
 
The TexAnns made a statement in the opening set by never trailing and cruising to a 25-17 win. Tarleton relied on a 10-0 run after leading 6-5 early in the set. During the run, the TexAnns had kills from Xzache Mathis, Kenya Alexander and Hailey Roberts, while defensively getting blocks from Roberts, Alexander and Chandler Gow to pull ahead. The TexAnns had a .429 hitting percentage and were led by Roberts' 10 kills in the first set while Gow assisted on 14 of the 16 kills.
 
In the second set, Texas Woman's built a 4-10 lead over Tarleton. The TexAnns were able to cut the lead to 7-11, but that was as close as Tarleton would get as the Pioneers went on to win the set 16-25 to even the match at 1-1.
 
Tarleton bounced back with authority in the third set with Roberts serving four aces in the first eight points to take an 8-5 lead and forced a Texas Woman's timeout. Kills from Mathis and Alexander padded the TexAnns' lead to 11-6.
 
The Pioneers battled back to make it a 12-11 game, but Alexander delivered another kill to maintain the lead. Tarleton went on a 6-1 run behind a pair of kills from Roberts and her fifth ace of the set to take the biggest lead of the set at 21-15. Alexander closed the door on the third set with a thunderous kill off the chest of a Texas Woman's defender for a 25-19 set win and gave her eight kills through three sets.
 
Looking to put the game away, the TexAnns came out in attack mode in the fourth set. When the TexAnns trailed, Alexander, Gow and Kelsey Raglin all had answers and poured in kills to tie the score with each attack. Roberts' kill at 10-9 gave Tarleton its first lead since 1-0 and they never trailed again in the set. Meg Umbel, the Lone Star Conference leader in blocks, defended the net like she has all season long with back-to-back blocks that gave Tarleton a 15-12 advantage.
 
The TexAnns kept their foot on the gas and went on a 5-1 run behind Roberts' seventh ace of the game and Umbel blocking her team-best fifth kill. With a game-high 23 kills, Roberts saved her best for last as she powered the final kill of the game that ricocheted off a Texas Woman's defender for a 25-18 win and take the match in four games.
 
In addition to her 23 kills, Roberts added 13 digs and seven aces in another near triple-double effort.
 
Xzache Mathis added 12 kills and Kenya Alexander had nine kills. Meg Umbel had a team-best five blocks for Tarleton. Chandler Gow assisted on 47 of the 56 Tarleton kills and added nine digs. Kelsey Raglin had seven kills, 11 digs and three blocks. Ayssa Garcia was relentless on the defensive side with a game-high 17 digs.
 
Tarleton will look for its 10^th straight win Saturday afternoon with a 12 p.m. match against Texas A&M-Commerce in Wisdom Gym.