Sept. 28, 2011
Final Stats
A season that has already shown signs of a new era for Texas A&M International University volleyball took another big step forward on Wednesday night. The new look Dustdevils fought back from a big hole to post a dramatic five-set (20-25, 22-25, 25-17, 25-23, 17-15) Heartland Conference win over St. Mary's in front of 350 raucous fans at the TAMIU Kinesiology & Convocation Building.
The first two sets were close but St. Mary's proved to be up to the task by finishing the first set with an 8-5 run and the second set with a 7-4 run to build a 2-0 lead.
The third set was also tight before TAMIU went on a 4-0 run to stretch a 15-12 lead into a 19-12 advantage on a Daria Winckler kill punched over the net. Andrea Marshall provided the next two Dustdevil points on kills to push the lead to 21-16 with the set ending on dual block by Jacquelynne Matula and Miranda Pratt.
The fourth set was back-and-forth with 15 ties. The score was tied 22-22 when TAMIU took a two-point lead on a kill by Winckler and a ball handling error by StMU's Allie Murray. St. Mary's got the next point but Andrea Marshall ended the set for the Dustdevils with a thunderous cross court kill.
TAMIU (7-9, 4-1 Heartland) jumped out to a quick lead in the fifth set, with Winckler putting back a St. Mary's (12-2, 3-2) attack at the net to get the unassisted kill that pushed the Dustdevils to an 8-4 lead. St. Mary's would battle back to tie the score 14-14 and later at 15-15.
The Dustdevils were not to be denied, however, and the home team secured the win on another cross court kill by Marshall and an attack error by StMU's Taylor Obermiller.
TAMIU tied its season-high mark of 70 kills and finished with a season-best .257 team attack percentage.
Marshall led the Dustdevils with 19 kills and 15 digs. She notched four crucial kills in the fifth set.
Katrina Zens contributed 13 kills, Alex Ciszek with 12 kills and Pratt with 10 kills. Jennifer Vega and Desiree Ortíz contributed 12 digs apiece and Winckler finished with nine kills, 51 assists and 10 digs.
TAMIU will take a break from Heartland Conference play to participate in the Texas Woman's Tournament this weekend before returning to league play next week with road matches against Dallas Baptist and St. Edward's.
