STEPHENVILLE – Tarleton State Volleyball opened up their first of four home matches with a dominant 3-1 win over Oral Roberts.
The Texans (2-8) returned to Stephenville for the first time this season, where they beat the Golden Eagles (2-10), (25-20), (27-25), (21-25), (25-10). This marked the Texans first match in their new home, Wisdom Gym. The Texans will play three more matches over the weekend, where they will host the Tarleton State Invitational.
Allison Bryant, who broke Tarleton’s D1 single-match record for kills on Tuesday, led the Texans in kills with 22. She also led the Texans in service aces (3) and digs (23). Her 23 digs marked her new career-high, shattering her previous high of 20 vs Queens (NC) on Sept. 29, 2021. This is Bryant’s second consecutive double-double after achieving her first of the season against McNeese on Tuesday.
Emma Burke led the team in blocks with three. This marked her 30th block of the season, vaulting her into the WAC top 10. Burke is coming off a season-high block performance with seven blocks against McNeese. She currently leads the Texans in blocks.
Megan Hodges and Yuna Ansquer had 20-plus assists each for the second consecutive match. Hodges led the team with 26 while Ansquer had 20. Heading into this matchup, Hodges ranked 5th in the conference in assists, and Yuna Ansquer accumulated her second career outing of 20-plus assists.
Emma Halcomb contributed 15 digs, adding to her WAC-leading total of 134 heading into Thursday’s match. Halcomb now has double-digit digs in nine of ten matches this season, and a streak of four consecutive matches in double figures. She is coming off a 25-dig outing against McNeese which tied her career high.
The Texans and Golden Eagles showed perseverance in the first set, where both teams battled back-and-forth until they found themselves tied 19-19. Tarleton then went on a 5-1 run to win the set, thanks to a block sequence by Faith Wilkins and Emma Burke as well as three consecutive attack errors by Oral Roberts.
Tarleton grabbed an early lead in the second frame, starting off on a 4-1 run that included three Allison Bryant kills. Oral Roberts then battled back and tied the set at 11. The Golden Eagles then continued to build a lead until it was 24-20 in their favor. While facing set point, the Texans climbed back to tie 24-24. This included a sequence at the 24-22 mark where Kristen Kuehn had back-to-back diving digs, followed by Allison Bryant leaping into the stands to set up an assist to Emma Burke which kept the Texans alive. Tarleton went on to win Set 2 27-25, capped off by an Emma Burke ace to clinch the set victory.
The Golden Eagles ran away with Set 3 after a 9-3 run. The Texans were never able to erase the deficit, dropping the third set 21-25.
In the fourth and final set, the Texans had six different players get at least one kill. Tarleton dominated the last set 25-10, capped off with a 3-0 run and an Emma Halcomb ace on the last play of the match to clinch the Texans first home victory of the season.
Tarleton will continue their home stretch in Stephenville where they will have a doubleheader on Friday. The Texans are set to play Alcorn State at 10 a.m. Friday and will take on Houston Christian at 6 p.m. later that day. This will be the first two matches of the Tarleton State Invitational for the Texans. The tournament will continue through Saturday where the Texans will face Louisiana Monroe for their final match of the week.
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