CANYON, Texas – The Newman volleyball team extended its winning streak to 15-straight with a 3-0 victory over Texas A&M-Kingsville; however, the streak was snapped when host West Texas A&M won, 3-0, over the Jets tonight (Oct. 10). With the 1-1 day, NU moved to 17-5 on the season.
NU 3, TAMUK 0
The Jets started today with a 3-0 win over Texas A&M-Kingsville. NU won the sets by the scores of 25-22, 25-22 and 25-23.
NU started with an excellent first set, hitting .326 with 22 kills on 42 attempts. TAMUK also hit well at .250 with 11 kills. After falling behind 14-12, NU scored six-straight points to build an 18-14 advantage. The run led the Jets to the 25-22 set win.
In the second set, the strong hitting continued with a .361 hitting percentage and 16 kills and only three errors. With the score tied at 16-16, the Jets used another run of 6-0 to take control with a 22-16 lead. NU went on to win set two, 25-22.
The third set saw the Jets get out to a 19-14 advantage. Five straight TAMUK scored five straight to pull to within one point at 19-18, but NU made enough plays to get the 25-23 set three win.
For the match, the Jets hit .252 with 51 kills and 19 errors on 127 attempts. Texas A&M-Kingsville finished at .189 with 36 errors and 15 errors on 111 attempts.
Senior middle hitter
Ashley Gonzalez tallied 18 kills with only two errors to hit .432. She added four blocks, two digs and one ace. Sophomore
Emily Harvey totaled 13 kills and hit .379. Senior setter
Alexus Litts finished with a match-high 45 assists on 48 kills.
Anna Burton registered 14 digs, a match high. She added a match-high three aces.
WTAMU 3, NU 0
Host West Texas A&M snapped the Jets' 15-match winning streak with a 3-0 victory over the Jets in the nightcap today. The Lady Buffs won sets by the scores of 25-16, 25-21 and 25-12.
NU struggled all match, hitting only .067 in the match, the lowest hitting percentage since Sept. 4. West Texas hit .313, the best hitting percentage against the Jets since Sept. 4.
In the first set, the Lady Buffs pulled out to an 8-3 advantage and never looked back, gaining the 25-16 win. For the set, West Texas hit .314 with 17 kills. NU finished at .091 in hitting percentage with only eight kills and five errors.
The Lady Buffs again started fast in the second set getting out to a 6-2 lead. NU cut the deficit to two at 13-11 after an ace by
Andrea Wheeler; however, NU couldn't get closer than that in the 25-21 set loss to West Texas. The Jets had their best hitting performance in the second set, finshing at .211 with 14 kills and six errors. The Lady Buffs were even better at .359 with 16 kills and only two errors.
West Texas used a huge run in the third set to put away the match. With the Jets within one at 11-10, the Lady Buffs went on a 9-0 spurt to go up, 20-10. NU couldn't recover as the Lady Buffs won 25-12. WTAMU hit .263 with 13 kills and three errors in the set. The Jets hit -.062 with seven kills and 10 errors.
Gonzalez totaled a team-high eight kills, but hit only .034. Litts had 19 assists and eight digs. Burton finished with 15 digs.
Lexi Davis of West Texas tallied a match-high 12 kills and hit .647.
The 15-match winning streak was the longest streak in the Newman volleyball NCAA Division II history. The Jets went one month since their last defeat. NU fell to UA Fort Smith on Sept. 10 then started the 15-match streak with two wins on Sept. 11 against Ouachita Baptist and Arkansas Tech.
NU returns to home to for its biggest Heartland Conference match of the season. The Jets take on conference leading UA Fort Smith on Thursday (Oct. 15) at 7 p.m. at Fugate Gymnasium. The Lions are 8-0 in the conference with the Jets in second at 7-1, their lone loss to UAFS on Sept. 10 in Fort Smith, Ark. Live stats will be available for the contest.
