WICHITA, Kan. – Tarleton dropped its first match since September 16 Saturday afternoon with back-to-back losses to Lubbock Christian and Newman in non-conference action.
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Lubbock Christian 3, Tarleton 1
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Tarleton's winning streak came to an end Saturday morning with a four-set loss to Lubbock Christian at Fugate Gymnasium at Newman University.
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After Tarleton scored the first two points of the set, the Lady Chaps went on a 16-7 run to take a 16-9 lead over the TexAnns and force Tarleton to use both of its timeouts after the opening 25 points. The Lady Chaps scored nine of the next 17 points to take the first set 25-17.
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Tarleton rebounded in a big way to take a dominating early lead in set two.
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Trailing 2-0,
Hailey Roberts got Tarleton on the board with her first kill of the set. The Roberts kill started a 15-3 Tarleton run that was dominated with four straight points served up by
Marissa Banda on two aces, a block from
Meg Umbel and
Chandler Gow, and an LCU error. Banda's run was followed by six straight points on a kill and two aces from Roberts, an LCU error, and two kills by
Xzache Mathis. The runs pushed Tarleton to a 15-5 advantage and forced the Lady Chaps to call a timeout.
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After LCU pushed back to pull within 17-20 and force a Tarleton timeout, Roberts struck again with back-to-back kills to start a 5-2 push down the stretch to claim the set 25-19 and even the match 1-1.
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The momentum shifted in the third set as the teams battled to a 23-23 tie before back-to-back blocks from the Lady Chaps sent Tarleton to a 23-25 loss and put the TexAnns down in the set 1-2. Tarleton took a lead on the first and third points of the set but three straight from LCU put the Lady Chaps in the lead for good as Tarleton lost the fourth set 25-21.
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Roberts led the team with 23 kills while Mathis poured in 13 kills of her own.
Chandler Gow posted 44 assists and 14 digs for her fifth double-double of the season and fourth in the last six matches. Gow also added six blocks while
Kelsey Raglin and
Ayssa Garcia added 14 digs each.
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Newman 3, Tarleton 2
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Tarleton couldn't pull off the rebound in the second game of the afternoon as the TexAnns dropped their second straight game in a five-set loss to host Newman.
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Newman opened the match by scoring 38 of the first 66 points to cover a 25-19 win in set one and a 13-9 lead to begin the second set, but a service error and back-to-back service aces from Roberts turned the tide and started a 13-7 run for the TexAnns to put Tarleton on top 22-19 late in the second set.
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Tarleton ended the set with kills from Roberts, Umbel, and Mathis to take the second set 25-23 and even the match 1-1.
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The TexAnns continued to roll early in the third set by jumping out to a 16-11 lead before the Jets finished the third set on a 14-4 run to take the game 25-20 and a 2-1 lead in the match. The fourth set started the same way as the third when Tarleton jumped out to a 16-9 lead. The TexAnns put the hammer down and finished the set with nine points in the final 21 points to claim a 25-21 win to force a fifth set.
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Newman led the whole way in the fifth set as Tarleton pulled as close as 9-7 before the Jets finished the set on a 6-1 run.
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Roberts finished the match with 18 kills while Mathis added a career-high 17 kills.
Kenya Alexander aslo cracked double figures with 12 kills. Roberts and Garcia led the way with 22 digs each while Raglin chipped in 10 digs each.
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Tarleton will return to action next weekend on a western road swing, beginning with a Friday night match against Eastern New Mexico in Portales.
