PIONEERS EXTEND WIN-STREAK TO 12 WITH 3-0 VICTORY OVER MIDWESTERN STATE

DENTON, TX—Texas Woman’s University (14-15, 8-0 LSC) recorded a .267 hitting percentage and 11.5 team blocks en route to a dominating 3-0 (30-13, 30-26, 30-13) victory over Midwestern State (13-17, 3-5 LSC). The win marked their 12th straight victory, the most since 1974 when that Pioneers team set the school record with 25 straight victories. TWU also clinched a spot in the Lone Star Conference Volleyball Tournament for the first time since 1997.

"This was one of our most dominating performances of the season. Every player got to see some action on the floor, which is good. Courtney Lewis had a great match with 12 kills and six aces while Marci Brinkman and Jenny Madrid did a great job of blocking," head coach Shelly Barberee said. "We set a couple of goals when the team started winning and two of them were accomplished tonight. We went undefeated in the month of October and guaranteed ourselves a spot in the conference tournament."

Game one was a runaway as the Pioneers opened the frame with a 9-1 run. MSU shot themselves in the foot with 11 hitting errors and lost the first game 30-13. Courtney Lewis (San Antonio, TX/Panola College) ended game one with three straight service aces. Game two turned out to be the closest of the match. There were three ties and two lead changes in the early going before TWU went on a 5-0 run to jump out to a 11-6 lead. The Pioneers kept a five-point advantage through most of the game until Jenny Madrid (Panama City, Panama/Hill College) nailed a kill and Lewis and Marci Brinkman (Carrollton, TX/Newman Smith H.S.) assisted one another on a block to give TWU a 27-19 advantage. The Lady Indians battled back late in the game with a 0-5 run, but Brinkman gave the Pioneers a 2-0 lead in the match when she recorded a kill for the game-winner, 30-26.

Madrid opened up game three with three straight aces, giving TWU a 4-1 lead. They extended that lead to 9-2 when MSU went on a run with five kills of their own to close the gap to 13-10. That would be as close as they would come as TWU answered with a 9-1 run, thanks to a couple of kills from Robin Hawkins (Flower Mound, TX/Flower Mound H.S.), and ended the match with a 30-13 win. The Pioneers recorded 14 kills with only two errors on 35 swings to record a match-high .343 attack percentage in the deciding game.

TWU finished the match with 41 kills and 10 errors on 116 swings for an attack percentage of .267. Lewis finished with a double-double, recording a match-high 12 kills to go along with her 10 digs and season-high six service aces. Melanie Pabalate (Fort Worth, Tex./Navarro College) turned in a season-high 17 digs while Brinkman recorded a match-high seven block assists.

Up next, the Pioneers host St. Edward’s University on Saturday, Nov. 1 at 6 p.m. for Parent Appreciation Night.