WICHITA FALLS, Texas – The Midwestern State Mustangs had to fight back a scrappy Texas A&M-Commerce squad Thursday afternoon, but came out with a 3-1 Lone Star Conference triumph at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.

The Mustangs (5-1, 2-0) downed the Lions (1-1, 0-1) 25-18, 25-9, 26-28, 25-18 to record their fifth victory under the Dome this season.

The Mustangs were paced by the play of sophomore Caitlin Wallace of Amarillo who collected 14 kills while smashing a .458 hitting percentage.

"That what we expect her to do," said MSU Coach Venera Flores-Stafford. "That's what she trained to do in the spring and she learned a lot. Her technique and fundamentals have gotten so much better than last year."

Senior Hillary White of North Richland Hills/Richland added 10 kills, while senior Miranda Bird of Atlanta, Texas added nine kills and three blocks with a .467 hitting percentage.

The Mustangs had little trouble in the first two sets, but struggled in the third against the Lions. A&M-C fought off three MSU match-point serves in the third set before tying the frame at 26 and getting the next two points to fall to force a fourth set.

"(A&M-Commerce) is going to push," Flores-Stafford began. "They didn't want to lose and we got comfortable and allowed them to make the errors. They came up playing well to get the set."

In the final set, the Lions held tight with MSU, trailing by one at the midway point 15-14. However, the Mustangs rallied for four straight points to take control of the set and never looked back.

A&M-Commerce got 13 kills and six blocks from middle blocker Kayla Bond of Denton to lead the Lions.

The match was the first of three in three days. The Mustangs travel to Dallas to meet Missouri Southern on a neutral floor on Friday and finish their weekend with Texas Woman's on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Dome.