WICHITA FALLS, Texas – The Midwestern State volleyball team opened up with a dominant first set victory before Texas A&M-Kingsville rallied to record a 3-1 victory (17-25, 25-23, 25-19, 25-19) Friday evening at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.

Midwestern State (5-19, 0-10 LSC) came out firing in the opening set, hitting .243 while holding the Javelinas to a .143 percentage.

With the first set tied at 15 apiece, a run by the Mustangs put the home team in control with a 20-15 advantage. A kill by sophomore outside hitter Meghan Bettis began a 4-0 spurt to end the frame as a service ace by junior libero Madelyn Johnson put the finishing touches on a 25-17 first set win.

In the second set, Texas A&M-Kingsville (15-9, 5-4 LSC) opened up an 11-4 advantage before the Mustangs began to trim down their deficit. Trailing 15-10, two Javelina attack errors and a block by freshman middle blocker Olivia Schiffner and senior outside hitter Hunter Porter pulled the Mustangs back within two.

With the Javelinas holding a 22-16 lead, Midwestern State put together another run that began with a kill from freshman middle blocker Kiley Beaver. Bettis added back-to-back kills to help the Maroon and Gold come within a point of the Javelinas, but TAMUK was able to hold off the Mustangs rally to record a 25-23 second set victory.

It was a tight third set until the Javelinas took a 13-8 advantage as back-to-back kills from sophomore outside hitter Valarie Moehrig sparked a 5-1 run. Midwestern State answered once again, pulling within one at 13-12 to force a TAMUK timeout. MSU errors capped off by a kill from sophomore outside hitter Krystal Puente put the Javelinas in control late at 21-14 before going on to record a 25-19 win to go ahead 2-1 in the match.

The Javelinas jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the fourth set to carry some early momentum. However, the Mustangs pulled closer thanks to their play at the net with three blocks making it a one-point contest at 7-6 in favor of TAMUK. Mistakes hurt MSU in the fourth as the Javelinas built a 13-7 advantage to take control. The Mustangs came back within two following three-straight TAMUK attacking errors but blocks from sophomore outside hitter Krystal Faison and freshman middle blocker Haley Hutchinson helped the Javelinas come away with a 25-19 win.

Schiffner recorded a team-high 11 kills on a .200 hitting percentage while Bettis and Beaver each added nine kills to lead the MSU attack. On the defensive end, Johnson led all players with 27 digs.

Midwestern State continues its homestand Tuesday when the Mustangs face Eastern New Mexico at 6 p.m. in Ligon Coliseum.