Texas A&M International University recorded another dramatic Heartland Conference win on Saturday afternoon at the TAMIU Kinesiology and Convocation Building. Despite looking a little flat at times the Dustdevils persevered to hold off Newman in a five-set match (25-22, 22-25, 25-17, 19-25, 15-6).
The win places TAMIU (13-4, 7-4 Heartland) alone in third place in the conference standings, one half game behind second place Arkansas-Fort Smith and a game ahead of fourth place Dallas Baptist and UT-Permian Basin.
The Dustdevils recorded a negative attack percentage in losing the fourth set (nine kills and ten errors) before bouncing back to record eight kills and only two attack errors in the fifth and deciding set.
TAMIU left little doubt in the fifth set, going on a 6-1 run to build a 4-2 advantage into an insurmountable 10-3 lead. Andrea Marshall recorded a touch kill to build the lead to 13-6 before Jacqueylnne Matula notched an ace to push the lead to 14-6. The match ended on an attack into the net by Newman’s Katelyn Schmidtberger.
Alex Ciszek was TAMIU’s statistical leader, finishing with 18 kills, nine digs and six service aces. Andrea Marshall finished with 16 kills and 18 digs. Miranda Pratt contributed 14 kills, Desiree Ortiz with 18 digs and Daria Winckler notched 48 assists and 13 digs.
Head coach Al Givens said today’s win was an important one for the team’s goals this season.
“I was concerned we might have a bit of a letdown after Thursday’s win over Arkansas-Fort Smith and it looked like it at times,” Givens said.
“Newman has the ability to play everyone tough and showed up today and did just that but I am really proud how focused we were in the fifth set. We took care of business late to earn an important win that we really needed.”