ABILENE — If this is the end, it was a good season for the Tarleton State Volleyball team, who more than doubled its number of wins from a season ago, won its first NCAA Division I era postseason match, and advanced to the WAC Tournament Semifinals.
The 3-seed Tarleton State (16-10) fell in the WAC Tournament Semifinals to the 2-seed Utah Tech (21-5) 3-0 on Friday at Moody Coliseum in Abilene, Texas. This is likely the end to Tarleton State’s season, although the Texans may receive an invite to the National Invitational Volleyball Championship, which will be announced on Nov. 30.
The Texans won their first D1 postseason match on Thursday, 3-2 against California Baptist in the quarterfinals, and fought hard Friday to keep their tournament run going, but the Trailblazers proved to be too much. Utah Tech outscored Tarleton State 57-40, with straight set wins of 25-20, 25-17 and 25-15.
In the first set, Utah Tech took an early 8-4 advantage, but the Texans fought back to tie it at 10-10. After Utah Tech took a 19-15 lead, the Texans again narrowed the gap to get within a point, 20-19, before the Trailblazers closed it out with five straight to win Set 1.
In Set 2, it was a back-and-forth affair until a 19-16 Utah Tech advantage. From there, the Trailblazers scored six of the final seven points to win the set by eight.
In Set 3, Tarleton State jumped out to an early lead and maintained it for the early portion. After a 7-7 tie, Utah Tech stepped on the gas and led 18-10, closing with a 10-point victory.
Breannah Peterson led the Texans with nine kills. Megan Hodges and Teye Nguyen had 15 assists apiece, and Nguyen had a team-high 11 digs.
As a team, Tarleton State had 36 kills and 20 errors to Utah Tech’s 41 kills and nine errors.
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