LAWTON – In a highly contested battle that saw 50 tie scores and 19 lead changes, the Cameron volleyball team came out victorious with a 3-1 win (25-23, 23-25, 27-25, 26-24) over Western New Mexico on Friday evening.
Not only did the Aggies snap a 14 match skid, they also notched their first Lone Star Conference victory of the season bringing them to 3-20 overall and 1-13 in the league.
"It's really exciting and kind of a relief because we just worked really hard every day and to finally get the win is a success for our team," sophomore
Brittany Lawson said. "Our teamwork was for sure our key to the win."
Sophomore
Shelby Mench said, "We had a lot more hustle than usual, and our defense was great tonight. When we went to Western, we lost in three. It was not a close game, so it was nice for us to get the win here tonight."
Leading CU was
Jenna Gillean and
Paige Dixon who each earned a double-double on the match.
Gillean put down 15 kills and 20 digs for her eighth double-double on the season, while Dixon got her fourth career double-double with 14 kills and ten digs.
Setting a career high number of assists was Mench with 50, and
Joseline Caraveo also turned in a career high performance after aiding with nine of the Ags' 11 team blocks.
After trailing 23-21, the Aggies took advantage of back-to-back Mustang errors and complimented them with back-to-back kills to start the match with a 25-23 victory.
The Aggies found themselves behind again late in the second set, but they chained five straight points to even the game at 23 all aided by two blocks assists from Mench and three kills from Gillean.
However, Cameron's second set comeback fell short as the Mustangs got the edge with a kill and Aggie error to win 25-23.
Game three saw the most set ties of the match at 20 in addition to six lead changes. Knotted at 25 all, the Mustangs 20 kills on the set would not pay off as they committed two straight errors, the last of which was blocked by Caraveo and Dixon for the 27-25 Aggie win.
The Mustangs were positioned at set point in the fourth game, but CU held steady for three straight points and finished with a set and match winning kill by Gillean for the 26-24 victory.
Kelli McGhiey led the Mustangs with 15 kills as WNMU moves to 14-10 overall and 6-7 in the LSC.
The Aggies will remain at home for a match with Eastern New Mexico at 2 p.m. on Saturday.
