DENTON, Texas — Almost coming away with a pair of victories, the Newman women's volleyball team split both games on Day 2 of the Hilton Garden Inn Classic Saturday, falling 3-2 (12-25, 17-25, 25-21, 25-21, 15-17) to Texas A&M-Commerce early in the morning before sweeping Colorado State-Pueblo 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-21) in the afternoon.
TEXAS A&M-COMMERCE
Key Sequence
After a bit of a sluggish start to the first two-sets of the 9 a.m. match, the Jets (2-2) rallied to pullback even with the Lions (4-0), to force a match deciding fifth set. Texas A&M-Commerce would jump out to an early 3-0 lead in the fifth set and would eventually extend its lead to 11-4 before Newman climbed back with four straight points to make it 11-8. The Jets would take the lead late in set five at 14-13 and 15-14 to have two chances at match points but eventually fell 17-15.
Set 1
-Newman would get out to a slow start to the day by falling behind 3-0 early on in the set. A kill by Aliya Higginbotham would make the score 5-3 in favor of the Lions but that was the closest the Jets would get to catching TAMUC in the set, eventually falling 25-12.
Set 2
-It was a back and forth contest early in the set with both teams trading points regularly. A kill by Brook Conley would bring the Jets within two points to make it 9-7 TAMUC early on.
-The Lions would extend their lead with two or three point runs the rest of the way to win the set 25-17. A Yemima Buana kill was the last point of the set for the Jets and that made the score 17-23.  
Set 3
-Newman would come out of the gates fast in set 3, getting three straight points 3-0 and eventually extending its lead to 10-2 with help coming from Emily Harvey and Higginbotham with two kills apiece.
-The Lions would make things interesting late in set 3, by getting within three points to make it 20-17. But kills by Jarin Braithwait, Buana, Harvey and Higginbotham along with a block from Buana and Lauara Hageman would make it enough to win the set 25-21.
Set 4
-Newman would once again come out strong to start the set by jumping out to a 4-1 lead early on, but would get its biggest lead to 19-12 with nine out of the 19 points coming from Harvey, Higginbotham and Hageman.
-The Lions wouldn't go quietly in the set and came back to make it 23-21 NU late in the set but a block from Buana and Hageman and then a Buana kill would wrap-up set 4 in favor of the Jets 25-21 to force set 5.
Set 5
-TAMUC would come out fast in set five to take a 3-0 lead early on and push its lead out to 11-4. The resilient Jets would answer back with four straight points of their own with a kill, block, service ace and an attack error from TAMUC to pullback within three points.
-The Lions would score two more points to make it 13-9 late in set five but once again the Jets would answer right back with six straight points to have a chance to win the match at 14-13. TAMUC would tie things up at 14-14 but a Harvey kill would give NU another chance with a match point, leading 15-14. The Lions would steal a victory from the Jets by scoring three straight points to win 17-15 in set 5.
COLORADO STATE-PUEBLO
Full match statistics for Newman's 25-18, 25-15, 25-21 victory over Colorado State-Pueblo were not available as of Saturday evening.
NOTES
-Harvey finished Day 2 of the tournament with 27 kills (14 against TAMUC and 13 against CSUP). She's been in double digits in kills for the first four matches of the 2016 season.
-Kayla Turner and Brook Conley both posted a double-double in Day 2 of the opening tournament but in separate games. Turner had 34 assists and 13 digs against TAMUC, while Conley had 31 assists and 10 digs against CSUP.
- Anna Burton finished with a team-high 37 digs for the day.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Jets come home for their home opener against Northwestern Oklahoma State Tuesday at 7 p.m. inside Fugate Gymnasium.