Box Score Season Stats
STEPHENVILLE - In front of a packed crowd at Wisdom Gym, Tarleton (9-4, 4-1) knocked off Lone Star Conference rival Incarnate Word (5-8, 2-3) in a five-set thriller Tuesday night.
This marked the fourth straight win for the TexAnns over UIW dating back to the 2010 season and the third time in five seasons Tarleton has started conference play with at least a 4-1 mark.
In the first set, Tarleton jumped out to a quick 10-4 lead to take control early.
A small surge from UIW brought the TexAnn lead to 11-8, but a Kelsey Raglin kill and two Cardinal miscues helped the TexAnns extend their lead to 14-8.
After a UIW service error, Raglin served up three straight points on kills from Stacie Murrah and Katie Covell as well as one Cardinal error to extend the Tarleton lead and double up UIW at 18-9.
Tarleton added a 6-0 run later with three UIW errors, two Covell kills and an Audra Vaello kill to push their lead to 24-10. The Cardinals answered with a 5-0 push, but a service error ended the first set in Tarleton's favor 25-15.
In the second set, things were a little more difficult as UIW kept the match close early and eventually taking a 12-8 lead after the first 20 points. A 7-4 UIW push put the TexAnns in a deeper hole at 19-12, which eventually led to a Cardinal win as they scored six of the last 11 points to take the set 25-17.
In the third set, Tarleton got back on track with a 6-2 run on the strength of kills from Raglin, Murrah and Covell as well as three errors from UIW.
Tarleton extended its lead to 14-8 and eventually to 19-10 after a slew of Cardinal errors. UIW would answer with an 8-1 run to claw back into the game at 20-18.
After an attack error, however, Covell served out on the strength of two Ashley Rine kills and a pair of UIW miscues to take the third set 25-18.
In the fourth set, UIW maintained at least a two-point lead in a tight contest until the 14-12. At that point, the Cardinals pulled away with a 6-0 run to lead 20-12. Tarleton made a small push but fell 25-16.
In the final set, Tarleton jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead on two UIW errors and kills by Vaello, Murrah and Kaylea Beck.
Tarleton extended its lead to 13-9 before a 4-0 UIW push forced a 13-13 tie.
After a Murrah kill put Tarleton one point away from the win, the Cardinal middle blocker missed on her kill attempt to seal the game and the match for Tarleton.
Covell and Danielle Barker each posted a double-doubles - Covell with a team-high 14 kills and 20 digs and Barker with 32 assists and 17 digs.
Murrah was the other double-figure kill leader with 12. Covell's 20 digs tied Emily Klein for the team high for the night. Kelsey Raglin also had 14 digs.
With the team leader in kills, Nikki McNorton, sidelined, a slew of role players stepped in to fill the void. Vaello and Rine each had eight kills while Beck and Meg Umbel had three and two, respectively.
Tarleton will head west for weekend road trip at West Texas A&M Friday at 7 p.m. and Eastern New Mexico Saturday at 2 p.m.
