Tarleton State University Athletics

STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Friday night lights in Wisdom Gym ended in dramatic fashion, with Tarleton State Volleyball (3-5, 0-0) defeating Denver (5-3, 0-0) in a five-set thriller 3-2 (25-23, 23-25, 25-17, 14-25, 15-8).

The Texans won their second match of the 2026 Tarleton State Invitational, sweeping Sam Houston on Thursday in the opening round. Tarleton State has now won three straight matches in its home tournament. 

Senior setter Alexis Massey and fifth year outside hitter/opposite Madison Rice-Locket both collected double-doubles on Friday. Massey posted the third 20-20 double-double in Tarleton State's Division I era with a career-high 28 assists and 23 digs. She is just the second player in the Division I era to post a 20-20 double-double in a match (Allison Bryant, 2024). 

Rice-Locket added 11 kills to go with 15 digs while fifth year outside hitter LaNeah Lara had a team-high 16 kills. Senior middle blocker Madison Frank added a career-high nine blocks and junior libero Leddy Rae Guinn had 33 digs, her most at the Division I level. 

Opening the first set on a 3-0 scoring run, Tarleton State collected a pair of points to take an early 11-8 lead. Denver, however, went on a 4-0 scoring run and collected three consecutive points later in the set to take a 16-13 advantage. The Texans countered with a 5-0 scoring run to retake the lead before Denver's Jamia Johnson scored back-to-back kills to tie the set at 18. 

After Denver took a 21-20 lead, kills from Rice-Locket and junior middle blocker Alyssa Dinh gave the momentum back to the Texans. Tarleton State ended the first set with the upper hand, scoring three of the final four points to win the first set 25-23. 

A 3-0 scoring run in the second set allowed Denver to take an early lead, but Tarleton State followed with four straight points to swing the lead. A kill from freshman middle blocker Onita Davis allowed the Texans to take a 21-20 lead before a kill and a service ace from Denver gave the Pioneers the lead. The Pioneers captured three of the final four points in the second set to win 25-23 and tie the match. 

The Texans responded by dominating the third set, forcing Denver into 10 attack errors in the third set while holding the Pioneers to just nine kills. Tarleton State opened the set on a 4-0 scoring run and took an eight-point lead off a kill from Frank. Denver attempted to stay alive with three straight points, but the Texans capped off the third set with kills from Lara and Davis to go up 2-1 in the match. 

Denver did what it had to do to force a fifth set. Following a 6-0 scoring run to open the fourth set, Denver held Tarleton State to seven attack errors on just eight kills to win 25-14 and tie the match 2-2. 

After trading the first six points, the Texans scored two straight points in the fifth set and never looked back. Kills from Davis and Lara put the Texans up by three points, with another kill from Davis and a Denver attack error putting Tarleton State up 11-7. Tarleton State scored six of the final seven points and ended the match on a 4-0 scoring run to take the match in five sets. 

Tarleton State wraps up the Tarleton State Invitational on Saturday at 2:30 p.m., taking on Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at Wisdom Gym. Tickets start at just $15 and can be purchased by clicking here. Admission is free for Tarleton State students. Saturday's match is "Be A Gamer!" day, where Wisdom Gym will have vintage arcade games in honor of National Video Game Day.