MSU Athletics

CANYON, Texas - Tarleton State used a strong net game to eliminate Midwestern State 25-10, 21-25, 21-25, 25-16, 25-16 in the opening round of the Lone Star Conference Championship Thursday night at the West Texas A&M Field House.

Powered by Monica Hamel's 11-block performance, the TexAnns finished with 16 total team blocks to limit the Mustangs to a .087 team attack percentage.

Tarleton used a nine-point run to dominate the opening set with a .435 team attack percentage before the Mustangs bounced back to take the next two sets by forcing 25 TexAnn attack errors for a pair of 25-21 wins.

Tarleton would hit .417 in the fourth set to force a deciding set.

The Mustangs took control with a 5-1 run early in the set before the TexAnns roared back to force a match point at 14-11.

But senior middle blocker Lauren Bayer responded with a kill and a solo block before Tarleton's Rachel Wolf committed an attack error to even the match at 14-14.

Wolf, who finished with a match-high 21 kills, would atone for the error by putting away the match winner after Bayer was whistled for a ball handling error.

Sophomore outside hitter Shelbi Stewart paced the MSU attack with nine kills while Bayer finished with eight kills and eight blocks and junior Miranda Byrd had eight kills and 12 digs.

Junior libero Kiara Jordan paced back row effort with 19 digs.

Midwestern State closes the season at 15-14.