Incarnate Word defeats Lady Dustdevils in 4 matches

The women's volleyball team faced the Incarnate Word Cardinals in their third conference match of the year on Thursday, Sept. 20 on campus.

Though the Dustdevils had first serve, they quickly lost it because a side-out from the Lady Cardinals led to an early lead of 0-1.

The first part of the game was close, but the Dustdevils fell behind 16-22.

Then, Nicole Gipson brought the team back into the game. A kill by Gipson, an ace by Maddie Mojica, and a finesse tip by Brittany Smith tied the game at 24-24.

Freshman Alexandria Montemayor hit a hard shot down the line away from any of the Cardinal's reach to give TAMIU the first lead at 25-24.

Smith then went up for a block that missed all of Incarnate Word's cover, raising the score to 26-24.

Though the Cardinals scored 27 points, Gipson had three consecutive kills to win game one 30-27.

However, the Cardinals came back and won games two, three, and four (21-30, 17-30, and 24-30) to win the match.

The Dustdevils' nine service errors, some of which occurred at crucial times in the game, contributed to their loss.

Mary Koch, the setter and senior captain said, "it is passing and serves that we need to work on in order to finish and win games; we can't afford long mental lapses."

Wendy McManus, the Dustdevil coach, agreed.

"The spurts in which we lack communication cause us to lose games and eventually a match; this is what happened tonight after our first game."

Smith and Gipson led the team with 14 kills each, and Koch had 45 assists.

Leading the Lady Cardinals was Kim Kvapil with 23 kills and 16 digs and Nora Nordman with 59 assists.

The Dustdevils have a record of 1-9 overall and 1-2 in conference.