Stephenville –Tarleton State Volleyball won its third and final match of the Tarleton State Invitational, earning the crown with a five-set victory against Louisiana Monroe on Saturday night at Wisdom Gym.
The Texans (5-8) notched their fourth consecutive victory, all at Wisdom Gym over the Warhawks (4-8). Tarleton fell behind, 2-1, but outlasted ULM winning the final two frames for the five-set victory, 25-20, 23-25, 16-25, 25-14, 15-9. The Purple and White were crowned the Tarleton State Invitational champions as the only team to have three victories over the weekend.
Allison Bryant was named the invitational’s MVP as she led the Texans with 13 kills in the final match of the weekend. Bryant also achieved her third double-double of the season during the win (13 kills, 11 digs).
Emma Halcomb and Megan Hodges were also named to the All-Tournament team as well. During Saturday’s match against Louisiana-Monroe, Halcomb led the team with 26 digs, which broke her career high of 25. Halcomb broke her own record atop of the WAC single-match leaderboard and added to her conference-leading season dig total. Halcomb also tied her season high for assists with six for the third time this year. Across the weekend, Hodges 67 assists led the Texans including 23 against the Warhawks.
Yuna Ansquer led the match in assists with 27, which shattered her previous career high of 24 against McNeese on Sept. 17.
The first set was a testing battle between both teams. The Texans led 20-19 before the Texans went on a 4-0 run fueled by back-to-back kills by LaNeah Lara. The Purple and White notched the first set victory, 25-20.
Tarleton found themselves on the wrong side of a rally in the second frame. The Warhawks overtook the Texans in the middle of the set on a 10-5 run. ULM never looked back and won the second stanza, 25-23.
Louisiana Monroe controlled the third set from the beginning. The Texans were unable to stop the rolling Warhawks en route to their 25-16 third-set victory.
However, the Texans responded in the fourth set. They went on a 5-0 run midway through the set thanks to back-to-back kills from the MVP Bryant and two aces from Hodges. Tarleton kept their momentum rolling, clinching the fourth period on back-to-back aces from Tatum Busch. The Texans recorded eight service aces in the fourth set alone, their most in a single set this season.
In the fifth and final set, Tarleton finished on a 7-2 run to win the tournament. The final point was capped off by an emphatic kill from Busch with the set from Ansquer.
Tarleton State Volleyball will have five days off before they travel to Utah to open their WAC slate on Thursday at Southern Utah. The match will be streamed on ESPN+ with the first serve at 7:30 p.m. CT from the America First Event Center.
2024 Tarleton State Invitational All-Tournament Team
MVP: Allison Bryant, Tarleton State
Emma Halcomb, Tarleton State
Megan Hodges, Tarleton State
Ariana Brown, Louisiana-Monroe
Cameron Rogers, Louisiana Monroe
Audrey Pearce, Houston Christian
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