Friday, September 28, 2007

Texan Woman’s volleyball takes 4-set victory over Texas A&M-Kingsville

By Pegasus News wire

The Texas Woman’s University Pioneers won their third match in a row by defeating the Texas A&M University-Kingsville Javelinas in four games (30-28, 14-30, 30-22, 31-29) on Thursday night in Kingsville, Texas.

Junior outside hitter Katie King, who recorded a match-high 21 kills on 67 swings, was once again the offensive catalyst in the victory for the Pioneers.

Defensively, TWU was paced by junior middle blocker Kandis Schroeder and freshman middle blocker LyGene’ Traylor. Schroeder (one block solo/five block assists) and Traylor (four block assists) dominated at the net by combining for ten total blocks. As a team, TWU accrued 18 total blocks to just 10 total blocks for the Javelinas.

“The success we had with our block was the main reason we won tonight,” said TWU head coach Shelly Barberee. “ Kingsville has a couple of hitters (freshman Sha Tramble and sophomore Adina Gray) that can really bang the ball. We needed to get our hands on the ball when they attacked and that’s exactly what we did. Kandis and LyGene’ really came through in that aspect for us tonight.”

Schroeder also added 10 kills to the TWU cause. Senior outside hitter Kasye Richmond did her part with 11 kills. Sophomore setter Jessica Crow set up a match-high 42 assists while senior defensive specialist Heather Marcus posted a TWU team-best 30 digs. Barberee was understandably impressed with her team’s balanced effort in the match.

“Collectively, our team played well. This was an unfamiliar place for us to play (TWU had never played a conference match before at TAMUK) and I was a little anxious to see how we would react. Everybody responded and raised their level of play. I’m very pleased to get this win,” she explained.

Tramble was the Javelinas (7-7, 2-3 LSC) top player in the loss. The first-year standout from Houston, Texas slammed down 17 kills and dug up 16 balls.

The LSC road victory improves the Pioneers record to 9-7 on the season and 3-1 in conference play. TWU will look to continue their hot play on Saturday, September 29, when they travel to Stephenville, Texas for a 2:00 p.m. match at Tarleton State University.

Posted by Alex B.

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