COMMERCE, Texas -- Marissa Olivares and Beatriz Villalba combined for 30 kills to help Midwestern State stave off Texas A&M-Commerce 25-17, 25-22, 18-25, 19-25, 15-9 Thursday night at the A&M-Commerce Fieldhouse.
 
The Mustangs, who have six of their last nine matches, improved to 13-10 on the season and to 5-8 in Lone Star Conference play.
 
Olivares, a sophomore from Sachse, got the Mustangs off to a hot start putting down 12 of her season-high 16 kills in the opening two sets, and then Villalba finished off the Lions with four kills in six attempts in the final set including one on match point. The senior from Safford, Ariz. also finished with a season-high 14 kills to go along with five digs.
 
Olivares continued her all-around excellence completing her third double-double in the last four matches with 11 digs while also notching four service aces.
 
Freshman setter Sarah Rosinke paced a hot-swinging MSU attack with 40 assists as the Mustangs finished with a .236 team hitting percentage.
 
Senior outside hitter Marija Jovanovic pitched 11 kills to go along with 11 assists and three total blocks, while senior middle blocker Caitlin Wallace needed just 20 attacks to put down 10 kills to go along with a team-high six blocks.
 
Redshirt-freshman libero Madelyn Johnson had 19 digs to lead the back row effort, while junior Casey Fletcher added 11.
 
Breanne Snyder had 14 kills and Kayla Bond added 10 kills and was in on six of the Lions' 13.0 total team blocks as the Lions dropped to 17-7 on the season and 5-6 in league play.
 
Midwestern State takes on Texas Woman's Saturday afternoon at Kitty Magee Arena in Denton. First serve is set for 2 p.m.