Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 WICHITA FALLS, Texas – The Cameron University volleyball program will open their season with a split after dropping their season opener to Northwestern Oklahoma, 3-1, and besting CSU-Pueblo, 3-2 in Wichita Falls.
 
"We had a good effort overall today and learned how to work through adversity," said head coach Qi Wang.  "There are things that we need to improve on and learn from both offensively and defensively but it was good to get a win today."
 
"Tomorrow is a new day though; I'm hopeful that we can play well as a group."
 
Against Northwestern Oklahoma, the Aggie netters had leads in all four sets (23-25, 24-26, 25-13, 19-25) but CU's offense faded toward the stretch in the opening two frames to give the Rangers the 2-0 match lead.
 
Cameron's offense turned the corner in the third set with a 25-13 win by recording 12 kills, while holding the Rangers to six before dropping the final set of the match.
 
Rebecca Green was most efficient Aggie at the net with 12 kills and a .345 attack percentage; this was her largest offensive outburst in over a year, and thirteenth match with double-digit kills.  Cristina Viera took the most swings at the ball for CU with 44, but the true freshman in her first match recorded a double-double match with 15 digs and 11 kills.  Jordan Escobar, also in her CU debut matched Viera with 11 kills.
 
Statistically both teams mirrored each-other but Cameron could not sustain their offense through a set by hitting below .109 in their three losing sets.   Northwestern limited themselves to only two errors in the second set and four in final set while knocking down 28 kills.
 
For the second match of the day, the Aggies went on the attack early by taking the first two sets 25-22 and 26-24.  Despite the advantage, the Thunderwolves took the long road back to recovery and took set three 25-21 and silenced the Aggies offensively with a 25-7 fourth set win.
 
In the decisive set five, match point was traded three times before Cameron rattled off three straight points to win the final set 18-16.
 
Kat Evans led the Aggies offensively with 17 kills, while Escobar had her second double-figure match of the season with 11 kills.  Kayla Hebert came away with a double-double match with 17 assists and 13 digs, while Ingrid Boatman paced CU with 24 assists.
 
The Thunderwolves had the edge with a .222 attack percentage compared to CU's .098; a key difference for the Aggies was five fewer service errors, and six less blocking errors.
 
Cameron will come back on Saturday for matches against Fort Lewis at 2 p.m. and Molloy at 7 p.m. to wrap up the weekend.