By Arrion Ellis | Staff Reporter

The No. 22 A&M-Commerce Lions volleyball team dominated their last two conference games against Texas Woman’s University and A&M-Kingsville, ending both games with a 3-1 victory.

On Tuesday, Oct.16 the Lions went on the road against Texas Women’s winning 3-1 taking the last two sets of the game. The set scores were 25-14, 17-25, 25-15, and 25-17.

The Lions capitalized quick in the opening set, going on a huge rally. The rally put the Lions in the position to close the first game without any pressure from the Pioneers.

TWU could not get close to tying the score with the Lions closing the game in the last eight points. Madison Luther had five kills and Celeste Vela had four, as the Lions hit .306 in the frame. Savannah Rutledge had 10 digs in the set to keep Lion rallies alive.

The Pioneers would go on and win the second set evening the game. TWU had control of the second game with an early lead.

In the third set the Lions fought back from a 13-9 deficit. Scoring nine straight points, the Lions took a 18-13 lead. Then finally closing the third game scoring seven of the nine final points.

In the fourth and final set both teams played evenly. It was not till the Lions took a 14-13 lead that they finally showed their dominance and finished the game with 12 kills against only one error for a .478 hitting percentage.

Shelley Chapron went on to win Lone Star Conference player of the week for the third time.

Using the same energy from the last game, the Lions would go on to win another LSC matchup against A&M-Kingsville on Friday, Oct.19. The set scores were 25-21, 24-26, 25-20 and 25-19.

In the opening set the Lions had the first rally of the game with a 9-9 tie. The Lions took advantage in the set as Kingsville kept making mistakes.

The Lions would seem to give themselves a safe lead as they go on a run. However, the Javelinas would fight back and take a 18-17 lead off of a block.

With the help of a run and an ace from Daniella Santos the Lions would go up 21-18. Before closing the set the Lions held a 22-21 lead, then finally closing it with a Jaslyn Wacker kill, a Vela ace, and a Chapron kill.

In the second set A&M-Kingsville took an early 6-3 lead due to the Lions having four attack errors. Kingsville would later lose a 12-9 lead after the Lions score five consecutive times.

After battling for the lead, the Lions went up 24-21, but Kingsville would squeeze out five consecutive points to close the set.

Starting the third set, the Lions would reassemble after losing the second set. With vengeance, the Lions would build an early lead. Leading in the third set the Lions seemed to take the game, but Kingsville would not die off. The Lions would score five consecutive points taking a 23-17 lead, finally closing the set with two more points.

Kingsville led the fourth set 11-7 before their lead started to slip. The Lions made a statement off of Santos serve, scoring 11 consecutive points to give them a 18-11 lead. The rest of the set was history, as momentum carried over so that the Lions could win the game.

The Lions continue LSC play, traveling to Lawton, OK to take on the Cameron Aggies tomorrow night Oct. 23 at 5:30 p.m.