WICHITA FALLS, Texas -- The Aggie volleyball team collected eight service aces for the second straight match, but fell 3-1 to Red River Rival Midwestern State on Tuesday night.
Katherine Manning led the charge at the service line, notching four aces, while
Brittnee Altic took the Lone Star Conference total ace lead with three, giving her 32 on the season. Manning also finished with 25 assists and nine digs, while Altic had 16 digs to lead the Black and Gold.
Freshman
Shantalle Demirjian led Cameron with a career high 12 kills on 35 attacks and had two blocks, as
Paige Dixon,
Brittany Lawson, and
Brandy Carr combined for 25 kills. Carr also had a team high five blocks, while another freshman,
Bailee Smith, recorded her first career double-double with 13 assists and 10 digs.
The Aggies offense performed well in the first half of the match, hitting .243 in the first set and .265 in the second, but in the back half they struggled, attack at a .083 percentage in set three and .080 in the fourth.
Cameron started out the match with three straight points to take an early lead, but MSU battled back and tied the match at 10 on a CU service error. The Mustangs then went on a 6-1 run to take a 16-11 lead. They held that advantage throughout the rest of the set to go up 1-0 in the match with a 25-21 win.
An early 4-0 run in the second set gave Midwestern a lead that they held until Cameron used a 7-2 run to take a 15-14 lead. CU kept up that momentum and after a Demirjian kill extended the lead to 23-19. However, the Mustangs responded with five straight to get to set point at 24-23. Demirjian answered with another kill to tie the set again, but MSU answered with a kill of their own. This time Carr came up with a big kill to even up the score, before the Mustangs came back with another kill to reach set point. A pair of kills from Manning gave CU back the lead, and after MSU tied the match at 27, the Black and Gold took the set 29-27 thanks to a Dixon kill and an ace by Manning.
Cameron carried their set two success into the start of set three, pulling out to a 4-1 lead on another Demirjian kill. Midwestern State battled back after falling behind 9-5 with four straight points to tie up the set at nine. The Aggies then responded with 5-2 stretch capped by a Demirjian kill to set the score at 14-11, but MSU took over from there with a 10-0 rally to take a seven point lead. The home team would go on to win the set 25-18 and take a 2-1 lead in the match.
Midwestern State opened up set four strong, taking and early lead thanks to a 3-0 start, but CU responded and used a three point rally to tie the match at eight points. The Mustangs retook the lead and never gave it back. The Aggies got to within one point twice, three times, including cutting the score to 20-19 on a Manning ace and 21-20 via Demirjian's 12th kill. Midwestern answered that kill with five straight points to close out the set 25-20 and win the match.
MSU Texas was led by Lauren Honeycutt, Erin Richburg, and Taylor Anderson with three kills each, while Sarah Glawe had a 49 point, 12 dig double-double. Additionally, Samantha Manio had a game-high 19 digs and Richburg chipped in 16 for a double-double of her own.
With the loss Cameron falls to 2-17 overall and 0-9 in LSC play, while their losing streak now stands at 10 matches. MSU is now 3-14 on the season with a 1-8 league mark.
The Aggies will host Texas A&M-Kingsville for their next match on Friday, Oct. 5 at 5:30 p.m.
