SAN ANGELO – Career-high performances set the tone early for Tarleton as the TexAnns opened the 2015 volleyball season with a doubleheader sweep of Chadron State and Newman at the Kathleen Brasfield Angelo State Invitational Friday afternoon.
  
Career efforts dominated the season opener as Hailey Roberts, Kelsey Raglin, and Chandler Gow set personal best efforts to lift Tarleton over Chadron State 3-1 in the season opener.
 
Tarleton opened the season on fire, beginning with a kill from Kenya Alexander off a pass from Chandler Gow. Adrianna Knutson made her collegiate debut and served up four straight points for the TexAnns to start Tarleton with a 5-0 lead that eventually developed into a 12-4 advantage.
 
After the Eagles battled back to pull within one at 19-18 and force a Tarleton timeout, Meg Umbel stopped the run with a kill shot for a 20-18 lead.
 
Chadron State answered back to take a game-point lead at 24-23, but the TexAnns didn't back away from the challenge as Umbel landed her second kill of the set off a dish from Gow to even things up at 24-24. Roberts landed a kill on the next volley to give the TexAnns a 25-24 advantage heading into extra points.
 
The Eagles scored on back-to-back volleys to reclaim the advantage in the set before another Alexander kill and the first career service ace from Adrianna Knutson switched the momentum back to the Purple and White. After a Chadron State kill, Tarleton got a kill shot from Roberts and a block from Umbel and Gow to seal the deal and put Tarleton on top 1-0 in the match.
 
In the second set, Chadron State used a 6-1 run down the stretch to overcome a 22-19 TexAnn lead and even up the match at 1-1 with a 25-23 victory.
 
The third set opened up in a dead heat over the first 16 points as neither team took control through an 8-8 tie, but Xzache Mathis landed one of her 11 kills to start a quick 5-1 push for the TexAnns to give them a 13-9 advantage. Tarleton carried the lead the rest of the way, despite twice having its lead cut to just one, and Roberts put the set away with a service ace for a 25-21 win and a 2-1 advantage in the match.
 
Tarleton carried its momentum into the fourth set by jumping out to a 7-2, which began with another ace from Knutson. The TexAnns maintained at least a five-point lead until the stretch run when the Eagles cut the Tarleton lead to two at 23-21, but Roberts took control and put an end to the match with back-to-back kills off passes from Gow for a 25-21 win the fourth and final set.
 
Roberts blasted a career-high 32 kills, which is the second-most in a single match in school history and eclipsed her previous best of 27 that she set in last year's season opener. Her 32 kills marks the fifth time in school history a TexAnn has had at least 30 kills in a game and made her the third player to do it – Joyce Holder (31), Jelena Miljanic (32, 32, 36). She is the first player to land at least 30 kills for the TexAnns since Miljanic against Angelo State on Nov. 6, 1999.
 
Roberts wasn't the only TexAnn to enjoy a career-best performance as Kelsey Raglin landed 13 kills, which topped her two-time career high of 11, and Chandler Gow dished out 53 assists for a new personal best and the first 50-assist performance in her career.
 
Ayssa Garcia led the TexAnn defense with 16 digs while Roberts added 11. The 11 digs for Roberts also gave the sophomore her 18^th career double-double.
  
Tarleton picked up in game two of the season right where it left off in the opener by knocking off Newman in four sets to improve to 2-0 on the young season and open its second straight year with a doubleheader sweep.
 
The TexAnns came out firing in the opening set as Newman failed to piece together consecutive points over the first 29 volleys while Tarleton built a 21-8 lead.
 
After Newman finally put together back-to-back points to make it 21-10, Umbel blasted a kill shot off a pass from Marissa Banda to start the set-clinching surge. Tarleton got a Newman error and kills from Abby Mackey and Kelsey Raglin to clinch the opening set 25-13.
 
The second set saw more TexAnn dominance as Tarleton rallied quickly from an 0-2 deficit with a 16-7 run to take a 16-9 lead after the first 25 points of the set. Newman rallied to within two points at 17-15, but a Roberts kill shot started an 8-3 run for the TexAnns for a 25-18 win and a 2-0 lead in the match.
 
In the third set, Tarleton battled but was unable to overcome an early 9-4 deficit as the Jets took set No. 3 to force a fourth set.
 
Neither team was able to pull away early on in the fourth set, as it stayed even over the first 30 points to a 15-15 tie. Newman gave Tarleton the serve and a 16-15 lead with an error and the TexAnns never looked back.
 
Garcia served up eight straight points on the strength of three Newman errors as well as three kills and two blocks combined from Kenya Alexander and Raglin. The run gave Tarleton match point at 24-15 and, after two more Newman points; Roberts put the match in the books with her 23^rd kill of the match.
 
Roberts finished the match with a team-high 23 kills for her 11^th career 20-kill performance and second of the day, giving her 55 kills in the first two matches of the season. She also had 10 digs for her 19^th career double-double and the second of the day.
 
Alexander added 10 kills and eight blocks while Garcia led the team with 14 digs.
 
Tarleton will wrap up the Kathleen Brasfield Angelo State Invitational with a doubleheader tomorrow, beginning with a 10 a.m. match against Texas-Permian Basin and ending with a 4 p.m. match against Western New Mexico.