Robertson, Neal shine as volleyball starts with win

The Texas A&M University-Commerce volleyball team made a big statement in a small amount of time Thursday during the Lions' 2011 season debut at the Field House. The Lions (1-0) needed just over an hour to sweep Henderson State (0-5), riding their early momentum all the way to a 25-12, 25-20, 25-13 victory that left head coach Craig Case impressed.

"I liked a lot of what I saw out there, I thought we did most things very well when we had the ball," Case said. "We came out a little too amped up, which is understandable considering it was the first match of the year in front of family and friends, but we settled in and eventually we just overpowered them."

Sophomore Jordan Neal led the team with 24 assists and a career-best seven service aces, with most of her assists going to junior Rachel Robertson, who finished with a match-high 14 kills and three blocks. Sophomore Dakota Crockett finished with 10 digs.

After guiding the team to a season-opening win, Neal was positive about the outlook for the Lions.

"We have a big season ahead and we're going to be really good this year," Neal said. "We have some good players on this team and we could be unstoppable, much better than last year."

Robertson said the team is more cohesive, and accomplished its goal.

"As a whole we played really well and everybody did their job," Robertson said. "This year we have a lot more chemistry. We didn't want to walk out of here with a loss, so this feels pretty good."

The Lady Reddies from Henderson State stayed close early in the first set, but with the Lions leading 9-8, kills by sophomore Ciara Holmes and freshman Breanne Snyder, coupled with a pair of aces from Neal, put some separation between the two teams and helped the A&M-Commerce ladies build an 18-9 advantage.

Henderson State got no closer than 20-12, while Robertson teamed with sophomore Kayla Bond and freshman Ezon Onditi to put the final five points on the scoreboard to close out the opening set. The second set was much closer, with no team leading by more than three points until A&M-Commerce pulled away toward the end due to a pair of hitting errors against the Lady Reddies. Robertson ended the set with a vicious kill.

The Lions started fast in the third and final set; building leads of 5-1, 12-4, and 19-8 behind a handful of kills from Robertson and more precision serves by Neal. Henderson State hurt themselves with multiple hitting errors, enabling the Lions to keep the Lady Reddies at bay. After four consecutive errors by Henderson State, Neal set up Robertson for the final kill to end the match.

Case was not only pleased by his teams' performance, but the show of support from the home crowd.

"Just like any other sport, we feed off the crowd," Case said. "If we're going to be a championship team, we need support from the crowd, and when we get a crowd like we had tonight, we're going to be tough to beat."

The A&M-Commerce women will hit the road Thursday for three matches in three nights, starting with a Lone Star Conference showdown at Midwestern State at 5 p.m. The Lions will return home Thursday, Sept. 15, when they host Abilene Christian in an LSC match at 7 p.m.