The Lady Mustangs had a tough time hosting two teams over Homecoming weekend when they faced off with Angelo State on Oct. 12 and Tarleton State on Oct. 13.
The volleyball team was blanked in both matches, dropping Angelo State 25-23, 25-21, 25-21 and Tarleton State 25-18, 25-15, 25-24.
Friday’s match with Angelo State started out well for the Lady Mustangs.
Both teams were able to trade points with each other at six points a piece in the first set, until a service ace from Alex Woolsey sparked a 7-3 run for the Lady Rams to give them a 13-9 lead.
The Lady Mustangs tried fighting their way back into the set, but the Lady Rams stayed one step ahead of them.
Angelo State was in clear control in the second set, starting with a 7-4 lead, as the Lady Mustangs tried to claw their way back into the match.
After a 24-17 set point for Angelo State, the Lady Mustangs’ last attempt to get back in the set was sparked by a an attack error from ASU’s Shelbi Goode.
Brandi Flores and Shelbi Stewart came up with one kill each, and another error from Goode brought the Mustangs within three points.
A service error on the following play, however, allowed Angelo State to secure the set win.
The third set saw the Lady Mustangs hold their first substantial two-point lead and they were able to keep it up until a 6-0 run late in the set allowed Angelo State to pull ahead and seal the victory.
The Lady Mustangs’ standout performers for the match were Stewart (12 kills, 1 ace, 1 block), Caitlin Wallace (11 kills, 1 ace, 1 block), Kristan Aduddell (20 assists, 11 digs) and Casey Fletcher (13 digs).
The second day of play did not go as well for the Lady Mustangs.
The first two sets of the Tarleton State game were littered with errors from the Lady Mustangs that allowed the TexAnns to take commanding set wins over MSU, beating the Lady Mustangs by margins of seven and 10 points.
The final set, Tarleton again came out and took a commanding 11-6 lead, but a series of attack errors allowed the Lady Mustangs to go on an 8-1 run and take a 14-12 lead over Tarleton State.
As soon as the run started, however, Tarleton State bounced back with 6-0 run of their own with four of the points coming off of MSU errors.
The remainder of the set went back and forth. The Lady Mustangs were inches away from a set victory at 24-23, but Tarleton was able to make the full comeback with a 26-24 victory.
Wallace again led the Lady Mustangs in kills with nine, while Aduddell also led in assists with 17. Casey Fletcher aided the Lady Mustangs effort with 18 digs.
The Lady Mustangs now stand at 4-17 on the season with a 2-9 record in Lone Star Conference play.
MSU will continue conference play on the road this weekend, taking on Texas A&M – Kingsville on Friday and Incarnate Word on Saturday.
The following week, the Lady Mustangs will continue their away trip with stops at Texas Woman’s University (Oct. 26) and Texas A&M – Commerce (Oct. 27) before making a final home stand from Nov. 2 through 10 to wrap up the season before the LSC Postseason Tournament.