WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- Arrianna Fields, a sophomore outside hitter, had 10 kills and hit a season-high .333, but Midwestern State fell to surging Texas A&M - Kingsville in the penultimate home match of the season at D.L Ligon Coliseum on Friday night, 3-1.

Texas A&M – Kingsville improved its record to 18-6 overall and 10-2 in conference. The Javelinas have an eight-match winning streak, including four-straight road victories.

Midwestern State lost its seventh consecutive match since defeating Eastern New Mexico in straight sets. The Mustangs are 4-21 overall with a 1-12 conference record.

The first set was tied for the eighth time at 13-13 after Jackie Alanis recorded a kill for TAMUK, which won 13 of the final 16 points to take a 1-0 lead with a 25-16 victory. The Mustangs had two attack errors and two ball-handling errors during that span.

The Javelinas hit .286 in the opening set and improved upon that in the second set with a .375 attack percentage.

Madelyn Stiefer had five of her match-high 13 kills in the second set, which featured nine ties and three lead changes. After Isabella Dickens capped a three-point run for the Mustangs that tied the set 17-17, Alanis had an assist and two kills to give the Javelinas a 20-17 advantage.

Two more kills by Dickens and an attack error by Rylan Pollard brought MSU to within one point at 21-20, but the Javelinas won four of the next six points with Stiefer recording two kills on assists by Elisa Carli to claim a 25-22 triumph.

Carli finished the night with 26 assists for the Javelinas, and Pollard added 15 in the victory. Brooke Parker had a match-high 31 assists for the Mustangs. Dickens had nine kills and Bourne finished with eight for MSU, which rallied in the third set.

A ball-handling error by Parker ended a three-point run for MSU and gave the Javelinas a 13-10 lead in the third frame. Riley Rabedeaux, Parker, Kimora Carter and Fields had kills in a four-point run as MSU pulled in front of TAMUK, 14-13. Sadie Portmann delivered back-to-back aces to give the Mustangs an 18-16 lead they would not relinquish in the set.

Parker assisted Dickens on back-to-back kills, and MSU won the third set, 25-21.

Carter ended a four-point run with a kill as the Mustangs took a 5-3 lead early in the fourth set, but MSU had three attack errors that led to a four-point run for the Javelinas, who took a 7-5 lead. MSU trailed 9-7 after Rabedeaux recorded her sixth and final kill of the match.

TAMUK won 10 of the next 13 points to take a commanding 19-10 lead in the set. Dickens, Field and Carter combined to record four-straight kills, and MSU narrowed the deficit to 19-15. The Mustangs never got closer than four points down the stretch, and kills from Ayanna Jackson and Alanis ended the match as the Javelinas prevailed, 25-19.

Alanis finished with 10 kills on 35 swings, and Jackson hit .273 with nine kills on 22 attacks for TAMUK, which hit .234 for the match.

Poor attacking percentages in the first and fourth sets left MSU hitting .150 for the match.

Dickens had a team-high 11 points for the Mustangs with four block assists, as MSU recorded five blocks, but TAMUK finished with 10. Carter had seven kills and hit .250 over two sets for Midwestern State.

Bourne had 16 of the 64 digs for Midwestern State, while Taygon Jones finished with 15, and freshman Koryn Johnson had a season-high 14 digs in defeat.

The Mustangs will honor Bourne and Elise Smith during Senior Day ceremonies on Saturday as Texas A&M International visits for the home finale. First serve is scheduled for 2 p.m.
 

--MSUMustangs.com--

Read Full Article