Jacob Jardel
Assistant Managing Editor
@JJardel_Writing
Cameron’s volleyball season has come to a close after a banner year at the net.
The first year under new head coach Qi Wang saw the team finish the regular season with a 14-14 record. The Lady Aggies’ 5-11 Lone Star Conference (LSC) record proved good enough to notch the seventh seed in the postseason tournament after failing to make the LSC playoffs the previous two seasons.
The Black and Gold faced off against second seed Texas Woman’s University (TWU) in their first conference matchup on Nov. 13. After an epic five-set duel, the Aggies earned their first postseason victory since 2007.
This win almost marked the first Cameron victory over TWU since 2011.
The Lady Aggies started the opening frame on a 10-3 run and kept a steady hold on that early lead. Cameron took the first set behind a .273 overall hitting percentage, six kills from frosh Kendra Adams and four from freshman Jordan Escobar.
The Pioneers answered back in the second set, hitting .308 with 17 kills against the Aggies’ 13 kills on .104 hitting. Though Cameron pulled within two, Texas Woman’s closed the set 25-21 on a kill and an Aggie error.
Cameron countered in the third set, riding a 13-point run to take the middle frame 25-11. The Aggies hit at a .423 clip with 13 kills and two errors, while the Pioneers mustered eight kills on .065 hitting.
The Aggies fell behind TWU in set four, trailing by as many as five points before battling back with four straight points to tie the set at 20. The teams traded points until the Pioneers pushed the match to a fifth set with two aces and a kill to win 25-22.
The teams opened up the deciding frame close before the Black and Gold stretched the lead out to 11-6. Cameron held back two runs from TWU to win the set 15-13 on an Escobar kill.
Escobar led the Aggies with 20 kills and a .459 hitting percentage. She also added five blocks. Adams added 15 kills of her own, while junior Kat Evans finished with 14 kills and four aces. Evans added 12 digs for a double-double.
Sophomore Kayla Hebert racked up 19 digs and a team-high 32 assists, while freshmen Lindsey McCauley and Cristina Viera added a baker’s dozen of digs each. Junior Ingrid Boatman added 25 assists.
The Aggies hit the court for the semifinal match the next day against Angelo State University (ASU). After claiming the first frame of the match, Cameron’s postseason run ended after the third-seeded Rambelles took the next three sets.
The Lady Aggies appeared to carry momentum from their last win into the first set, going toe-to-toe with the ASU after the Rambelles tied the score at 24 apiece. A go-ahead kill from senior Rebecca Green and an Angelo error sealed the set for the Black and Gold, who mustered 17 kills on a .200 hitting clip.
The second frame saw the Aggies hanging on throughout. After a 13-13 tie, a 10-2 ASU run helped cap the set for the Rambelles.
Cameron took advantage early in the third set before Angelo scored five unanswered points to tie the set at 10. After the teams traded leads to tie the set at 16, ASU took control, scoring nine of the next ten points to take the set 25-17. The Rambelles would take the fourth set with the same score after a pair of runs pulled them ahead of the Aggies.
Evans was the only Aggie with double-digit kills, racking up 10 on the night to go with 11 digs for a double-double. Viera and Escobar added nine kills apiece, while Adams and sophomore Paige Holt each added eight kills.
McCauley led the team with 14 digs, while Hebert added 13. Hebert led the team with 27 assists for a double-double, while Boatman added 18 assists to the tally.