It was a tough afternoon for the UTBP women’s volleyball team.
Jackie Alanis had a match-high 16 kills to lead Texas A&M-Kingsville to a 28-26, 25-21, 25-13 victory against the Falcons in Lone Star Conference play Saturday at the Falcon Dome.
Madelyn Wallaced added 11 kills and Sydney Whitmire finished with 25 assists in the victory.
The Javelinas improved to 16-8 overall, 8-3 in conference play.
Aquincia Strambler had 11 kills to lead UTPB (11-12, 6-6), with Maya Detwiler finishing with 13 assists.
“Kingsville played well, I got to give them credit,” Falcons head coach Tim Loesch said. “We came out a little bit flat in warm-ups and it showed in the game.”
The Falcons battled back after trailing early in the first set, 12-7.
The Javelinas kept their distance in the first set thanks to several successive kills by outside hitter Meghan Steife, rmiddle blocker Madelyn Wallace and outside hitter Jackoe Alanis.
The Lady Falcons capitalized on several Javelinas errors and two kills of their own from senior middle hitter Taurie Magee and senior outside hitter Mayce Barker to square things at 22-all.
The teams continuously fought for that first set advantage, as there were five lead changes following that tie.
However, in what was a theme that set the tone for the rest of the game, the Javelinas won the first set 28-26, following consecutive Falcons attack errors.
The Falcons were coming off a three-set loss to Texas A&M International on Friday and now have lost four of their last five games.
“We’ve been (playing back-to-back games) all year, as we have had three games in four days,” Loesch said. “It’s been a long season and everybody’s tired, but obviously some teams are fresher than us.”
The Lady Falcons battled to start the second set, tying at 4-all, but allowed the Javelinas to go on a 5-0 run and eventually pull away for a two-set lead.
“Some girls tried to step up and do maybe more than they were supposed to do and made some errors and had some communication issues,” Loesch said. “They were trying to do a little bit extra.”
Strambler felt that there was some miscommunication issues among her and her teammates.
“(The communication issues) was a factor in our loss and also being able to execute the plays,” Strambler said. “I just feel like that was one of our weak points today, but certainly going forward.
“We know what we need to work on and improve from there.”
The road team continued their success in the third set, as the Javelinas opened-up to a 10-5 lead and never looked back.
“I thought we did a good job offensively,” Javelinas coach Tanya Allen-Gonzalez said. “UTPB has a good defense.
”I feel like both sides dug a ton of balls. It was a lot of long rallies and we were just lucky to finish them off with kills.”
The Falcons precariously hold the eighth and last Lone Star Conference playoff spot, as Lubbock Christian (10-15, 6-8) is one game behind with just four matches left in the regular season.
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