The Lamar University volleyball team beat Texas A&M-Commerce 3-0, Oct. 3, in Southland Conference action McDonald Gym. This was the Lady Cardinals 10th win of the season, the first time they have accomplished the feat since 2015.
The first set was a thrill with 18 ties and six lead changes, ending 30-28. Lamar started off slowly but quickly caught up making the game close until the end where they won three consecutive points to take the set.
“We were battling, we were fighting and that was kind of the conversation going into tonight,” Head Coach Ariel Apolinario said. "That was a good team on the other side. I thought that we did a really good job on making them uncomfortable enough. I think once we were able to settle down our defense was able to do exactly what we needed them to do.”
Lamar got off on a good start in the second set leading by eight right at the media timeout. The Lady Lions made a run to close the gap, but Lamar shut them down, winning the set 25-22.
The Lady Cardinals didn't struggle much in the third, building an early six point lead and maintaining control throughout, ending 25-20.
Maja Malinowska recorded her eighth double-double of the season with a team-high 14 kills and 17 digs, one of four Lady Cardinals to have double-digit digs. Keeley Nellis posted a team-high 22, with Monique Gonzalez and Alexa Gonzalez each recording 11.
“It's a team effort,” Apolinario said. “No one person is able to do that by themselves, and I think that this group honestly believes that they can win now, and I think that belief is honestly giving us an opportunity to do some of these things. But regardless of winning and losing, I think that we're getting better. And I think that's the key right now.”
The Lady Cardinals are now 10-5 overall and 2-1 in SLC play. LU will travel to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Oct. 5, at 1 p.m. Lamar returns home to play Stephen F. Austin at 6:30 p.m., Oct. 8. Both matches will be streamed on ESPN+.