STEPHENVILLE – The Texans remain unbeaten in Wisdom Gym.
Tarleton (7-1) took down UIW (1-3) on Tuesday evening in Wisdom Gym to remain unbeaten at home with a 7-0 record.
Grayson Schirpik posted her second double-double of the season, landing a team-high 14 kills to go with 11 digs. Ailie Hair led the Texans with eight blocks and Breanna McDonough followed that up with six of her own. Megan Hodges finished with 21 assists, her fifth 20+ assist match of the season. Ana Costas dug up 16 Cardinal attacks.
UIW’s Allison Palmi led all players with 16 kills with Finley Evans following right behind with 15.
The win did not come easily as the Cardinals stormed out to a 1-0 set lead. They landed 15 kills to Tarleton’s nine and held the Texans to a .125 hitting percentage in the set.
With all the momentum on UIW’s side, Tarleton responded as they usually do. They came out firing in set two and stomped out the opponent’s energy to tie the match and get the fans back into the match. Tarleton used a 6-0 run highlighted by two kills from Hair to take a 17-14 lead and followed that up later with a 4-0 run to stretch the lead to 24-19. The Cardinals responded with four straight points to make it 24-23, but once again Hair landed a kill just when Tarleton needed it most to take the set and tie the match.
Set three was the outlier as Tarleton won it 25-18. All three other sets ended with a score of 25-23. It was a back-and-forth affair most of the way. Tarleton broke a 9-9 tie with two straight kills from Hair and a kill from Schirpik. They never gave up the lead again and used a late 5-0 run to help get them to the win. Costas had two service aces in the run.
The two teams paced each other in the final set. UIW tied the match at 16 and things got intense from there. Tarleton reeled off two different 3-0 runs but UIW peppered in points via a few Tarleton errors. A block from Brianna Rhodes and McDonough made the score 24-21 Tarleton, but UIW came right back with two straight blocks to cut the lead to one. On the ensuing play UIW’s Taylor Stoops misplayed the ball into the net and Tarleton emerged victorious.
Tarleton has yet to play a full length five-set match this season.
The Texans will hit the road as they play in the Dolphin Classic hosted by Jacksonville University this weekend. JU, Florida Atlantic and Idaho make up the field. The first match is Friday at 9 a.m. vs. JU. Streaming details will be provided later in the week.
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