Oklahoma Panhandle State University

Goodwell, Okla.—After returning from a two-week trek across Texas, for five Heartland Conference matches, the OPSU Volleyball team was looking for their first conference win Sunday afternoon as the Aggies took on Texas A&M-International in a pink out game in the Oscar Williams Field House.

The Aggies had taken their fifth straight Heartland loss Friday evening in Lubbock where the Lubbock Christian Lady Chaps defeated them in three sets (11-25, 9-25 and 24-26). In a hard-fought third set, libero Dejiana Rubio scored back-to-back service aces to give the Aggies and early lead. OPSU went on to score four of their five aces of the day in set three and were up 24-10 until LCU went on a six-point run to win out the set.

Picking up where they left off, the Aggies looked to have set one in the bag Sunday afternoon, holding a solid lead throughout the game. Up 23-20 the Aggies gave up three points on TAMIU kills tying the game at 23 all. Celci Bakos reclaimed the Aggie lead with a kill but the Dustdevils go the ball back on a kill of their own and won the final two points to claim the first set 26-24.

The Aggies were determined for a comeback and won the second set 25-22 owning the lead after the first three points of play thanks to solid serving from Rubio who served seven straight points for the Aggies; two points off kills by Katilyn Carr who landed four kills in the set.

Taking another early lead the Aggies kept things close in set three until a service error broke a 10-10 tie putting the ball in the Dustdevils' court for a four-point run. TAMIU controlled the lead the remainder of the set and took a 25-18 victory to go up 2-1 in the match.

With a must-need in set four, the Aggies grinded out the first four points to take another early lead but could not hold on for the win. The teams battled to a 13-13 tie when a side out kill by TAMIU put the Dustdevils back in the driver's seat. The Aggies were outscored 12-3 the remainder of the set, falling short of the must-needed win 16-25.

Carr totaled ten kills on 15 attacks for a .360 hitting percentage and went up for one solo block and two block assists for a total of 13 points on the day. Libero Dejiana Rubio had a game-high 15 digs against the Dustdevils and Abigail Reinick led the team in assists with 19; Reinick also landed two service aces in the match.

TAMIU's Paula Mrowczynska led the game with 14 kills and Ramey Gardner totaled a game-high 28 assists. The Dustdevils averaged .212 hitting for the day to the Aggies' .134. OPSU now owns a 1-15 overall record for the season.

Assistant Coach Mike Stara had this to say after Sunday's match, "We played really well at times, but just have to find better consistency throughout the match. We look forward to a couple of great practices before we play on Wednesday."
 
The Aggies will have a few days to regroup before hosting five straight games on their home court later this week. The OPSU Tri-Match will take place Wednesday, Oct. 7 with games at 1, 4 and 7 p.m.; the Aggies open play at 1 p.m. against New Mexico Highlands and then play again at 7 p.m. in a match with Texas A&M-Kingsville (NMH and TAMUK are the 4 o'clock match-up). Then on Thursday a Heartland Conference double-header kicks off at 4:30 p.m. as the Aggies take on Newman followed with a game against Arkansas-Fort Smith at 7:30 that evening.

Get in on all the OPSU volleyball action with live stats and video links available on the volleyball schedule page of the official website for OPSU Aggie Athletics at www.opsuaggies.com.