STEPHENVILLE, Texas – The Harding volleyball team defeated Texas A&M-Commerce 3-2 (19-25, 25-22, 17-25, 27-25, 17-15) but fell to No. 18 Tarleton State 3-0 (25-23, 25-22, 25-21) Friday on the first day of the Tarleton State Invitational.

Harding moves to 1-1.

Texas A&M-Commerce moves to 0-1 and Tarleton State improves to 2-0.

TEXAS A&M-COMMERCE MATCH

FIRST SET

Harding had a 12-9 lead in the first but Texas A&M-Commerce came back and won 25-19. The Lions had 19 kills and hit .429 in the set.

SECOND SET

Harding took a 22-14 lead in the second set and went on to win 25-22. Harding had 16 kills in the set.

THIRD SET

Trailing 9-11, Texas A&M-Commerce went on a 13-4 run and won the set 25-17.

FOURTH SET

Trailing 23-21, Harding scored seven of the next eight points to win 27-25.

FIFTH SET

Harding jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the fifth set. Texas A&M-Commerce came back and tied the set 15-15 but a kill by Emily Smith and a Lions attack error gave Harding the set 17-15.

STATS

Harding

-          Harding had 57 kills with Emily Smith, Madison Poen and Zoe Hardin each having 12.

-          Madison Poen led the defense with 15 digs.

-          Rachel Heussner had 48 assists and nine digs.

-          Katherine Cowart had five service aces.

Texas A&M-Commerce

-          Jaslyn Wacker led the Lions with 16 kills and 10 blocks.

-          The Lions had 99 digs in the match led by Savannah Rutledge who had 28.

TARLETON STATE MATCH

FIRST SET

Harding had a 23-21 lead in the first set but Tarleton State scored the next four points to win 25-23. The TexAnns had 16 kills in the set.

SECOND SET

After falling behind early Harding took a 12-11 lead on a 9-1 run. The TexAnns battled back and won the set 25-22.

THIRD SET

Harding took a 5-2 lead in the third set until Tarleton State took a 23-17 lead. The TexAnns went on to win 25-21. Harding had 16 kills in the set.

STATS

Harding

-          Madison Poen had 11 kills and 10 digs for Harding.

-          Rachel Heussner had 39 assists and seven digs.

-          Taylor Lake led the defense with 20 digs.

Tarleton State

-          Adriana Darthuy and Lauren Kersey each had 10 kills for the TexAnns.

-          Adrianna Knutson led the defense with 12 digs.

QUOTE

Harding head coach Meredith Fear, "The matches today were both high level but very different styles. I am encouraged by the way we gutted out a close five set victory. We played Tarleton well but couldn't hold a lead or close out the sets. Looking forward to another two good matches tomorrow."

UP NEXT

Harding will wrap up the invitational Saturday against Southwest Baptist at 9 a.m. and Midwestern State at 2 p.m.