DENTON – No. 15 Tarleton picked up its 20th win of the season with a five-set victory on the road at Texas Woman’s (19-25, 25-20, 25-20, 21-25, 15-9).
Tarleton (20-2, 12-0) ran its school-record win streak up to 17 games after sweeping its weekend road trip.
The TexAnns hit .209 in the match while TWU hit .185. The TexAnns had four players with double-digit kills, led by Amber Strange’s 14. Adriana Darthuy landed 13 kills, while Hannah McManus and Tatyana Tuialii-Umi each had 10 kills. Adrianna Knutson recorded a team-leading 27 digs while Darthuy added 18, Michaela Rodriguez had 15 and Kayla Brannon registered 13. Blanca Izquierdo led the team with 28 assists and Brannon added 23.
Tarleton dropped the opening set to the Pioneers, falling behind by as much as 12-5 to open the match. The TexAnns responded to get within one at 19-18 on kills from Lauren Kersey and Strange, but it was as close as the TexAnns would get in the set.
A 7-0 run midway through the second set pushed the TexAnns out in front at 17-9. McManus had two blocks and a kill during the run. Back-to-back kills from Strange padded the Tarleton lead to 21-12 late in the set. Darthuy and Tuialii-Umi had the final points of the set to even the match at 1-1.
Tarleton and TWU split the first 20 points of the third set before four straight TexAnn points put them up 14-10. The TexAnns took a 2-1 lead with a strong finish to the set by scoring five straight points led by two blocks from Sofia Tonga and Elizabeth Muliaga to make it 23-15. Knutson’s service ace was the final point of the set.
The Pioneers took the fourth set to force a fifth and deciding set for only fourth time this season for Tarleton. The two teams were tied at 13-13 before the Pioneers took the next two points and led the rest of the set.
The fifth and deciding set was all Tarleton as the TexAnns had runs of 5-1 and 4-0 to jump out in front 10-4. Darthuy had two straight kills to push the lead to 13-6 and McManus delivered the final punch with a kill to win the match.
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