Gunnison, Colo.,   The Western Colorado Volleyball team played a hard fought match against Texas A&M University-Kingville. 

WESTERN COLORADO VS TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY-KINGSVILLE 

The Javelinas struck first slamming two kills for a 2-0 lead. A kill by Sophomore Kyra Kidd and a ball handling error by TAMUK tied the score 2-2. Kingsville went up 3-1 but junior Pelin Aksoy with the kill assisted by senior Nur Turkmenoglu put the score at three a-piece. WCU took their first lead 4-3 off a Kidd service ace. A slip up by TAMUK and an ace by Pelin stretched the Mountaineers lead 6-4. Both teams battled, exchanging points but the Javelinas widened the gap and took their lead 21-15. WCU snuck in a few more points but Kingsville took set one 25-17. 

Kills were traded to kick off set two 1-1. The Javelinas scored two in a row for a 3-1 edge, but the Mountaineers answered back to see a 3-3 draw. TAMUK jumped out to a 12-7 lead forcing WCU to call a timeout. Kingsville scored the first three coming out of the timeout for a 15-8 lead. Western kept battling on both sides of the ball, cutting the score deficit to a point 22-21. Three kills by TAMUK compared to senior Kennedy Kelly's single kill resulted with the Javelinas winning the set 25-22.  

Sophomore Chinaru Inoue assisted Pelin for kill one of set three. An extremely even match-up kept the score going back and forth. Aces, kills, errors, and timeouts traded. The score went past the regulated twenty-five. Each team adding one at a time taking the lead. A nerve racking set came to a close as the Mountaineers took the final two scores of the set 31-29. Seeing the game score at 2-1 in favor of TAMUK.

As the respective teams burned the midnight oil, the fans kept the gym full of energy. Another back and forth set full of hard work, grit and determination. Points were traded but Kingsville took the lead and jumped to a 23-15 edge. The Mountaineers never let their spark dull but the Javelinas took the set 25-16 and the game 3-1.

Aksoy finished with 14 kills followed by 13 kills from Kelly. Turkmenoglu assisted 37 kills and tied with Inoue for 12 digs.

ALL-TOURNAMENT
For their efforts over the two-day Classic, Western's Perk, Turkmenoglu and Asksoy were voted by the attending coaches to the All-Tournament squad. Kingsville's Meghan Stiefer and Ayanna Jackson shared Tournament MVP honors.

UP NEXT 

The Western Colorado Volleyball team hits the road to take on conference opponent Colorado Mesa University on Friday September 20 at 6 p.m. For more information visit gomountaineers.com.