Top-seeded Tarleton ousts Hounds

Staff report

STEPHENVILLE, Texas — Sophomore outside hitter Hailey Roberts had 15 kills Thursday night and top-seeded host Tarleton State notched a 25-19, 25-17, 23-25, 25-13 victory over Eastern New Mexico University in the quarterfinals of the Lone Star Conference volleyball tournament.

The TexAnns (26-5) advanced to face fourth-seeded Cameron, which slipped past Texas A&M-Kingsville 12-25, 25-20, 12-25, 26-24, 15-12, in today’s 6:30 p.m. (MST) semifinal.

The early semifinal will pit third-seeded Texas Woman’s against second-seeded Angelo State, both of whom won in three sets on Thursday. Saturday’s championship match is set for 6 p.m. (MST).

Junior outside hitter Lauren Frye collected 15 kills for the Greyhounds (13-20), while sophomore libero Andrea Aguilar of Clovis posted a match-high 12 digs.

Tarleton bolted a 10-0 lead in the opening set and forced ENMU to use both its timeouts trying to turn the momentum. The Greyhounds got as close as 20-15 before TSU pulled away.

The second set was tight most of the way, but the TexAnns scored four unanswered points to make it 20-13 and were able to finish it out.

Game 3 was also tight. The Hounds used a 3-0 run to take a 19-17 lead and didn’t trail again, although Tarleton tied it three times before Frye finished it with a kill on set point.

Frye put the Hounds ahead 1-0 with a kill in the fourth game, but the TexAnns ran off a 6-0 spurt — fueled by five ENMU attack errors — to open an 11-4 lead and were never threatened after that.