THE LEAD
The Lady Patriots were back at it on this rainy Saturday. DBU enjoyed a lively crowd against a very difficult Texas A&M – Kingsville team that has gotten off to one of their best starts in school history. The Lady Patriots had to lean on some of their younger players like sophomore's Kasey Holland who lead the team with 4 blocks,
Alexa Lezak who recorded 10 kills to lead the team. While
Lauren Nicks led everyone in the match with 13 digs.
DBU got off to a strong start during the first after a thrilling kill by
Sidnee Jo Fitzpatrick. The Lady Patriots took the lead after scoring four straight to give them a 14-12 slim lead. The set was a close one until TAMKU took the game with a 6-1 run to take the set 25-21.
The second set started really close with both teams trading the lead until the set was tied up 8-8. The rest of the set, Texas A&M – Kingsville had the momentum and were able to deliver two 4-0 runs against DBU to give them the 25-16 victory.
The victor of the third set was going to be the team that ended on either teams own run because that is the way the set was going. The Lady Patriots got back into the game late with a 3 consecutive points pulling the game close 18-16 with TAMKU in the lead. However, DBU ran out of gas with their limited roster and Texas A&M – Kingsville won the set and match after 4 straight points that made the score 25-19.
BY THE NUMBERS
37 – Kills by TAMKU compared to DBU's 36
55 – Digs by TAMKU as opposed to DBU's 50
13 – Blocks by TAMKU compared to DBU's 8
COACH'S QUOTE
After facing a tough team with a limited roster, I asked Coach Kokel what excites her about her young team. She said, "We only had 8 available players today so that presented an opportunity to some of our young sophomores. It was great to see some of them rise to the challenge and it excites me of what they can be capable of doing in the future."
WHAT'S NEXT
The Lady Patriots are back on the road for their matchup against Texas Woman's on Tuesday at 6 PM. Tune in for live stats and video to get the full coverage of the game.
