Tarleton’s powerful first two sets weren’t enough to stop the Midwestern State Mustangs from rallying back Friday, Oct. 25, even though Stacie Murrah and Danielle Barker had monumental games.

In the first set, the teams were neck-and-neck at 14-14. Then, a block by Kaitlyn White and Katie Covell gave the TexAnns a 15-14 lead over the Mustangs. Tarleton then went on a 4-0 run to take a bigger 18-14 lead and force a Mustang timeout.

Tarleton came back and took the lead 24-19 before taking the first set 25-20.

The TexAnns dominance remained during the second set when the team took a 12-9 lead. Danielle Barker served up a 6-0 run to put the TexAnns up 18-9.

Tarleton held on and took the second set 25-17.

In the third set, Murrah had her sixth kill of the night. The kill not only gave Tarleton a 5-2 lead, but made Murrah the seventh TexAnn in school history with 1,000 career kills.

The TexAnns took a 20-10 lead over the Mustangs. It looked like Tarleton was about to sweep Midwestern State, but a 15-3 run by the Mustangs took it into a fourth set.

The momentum had changed going into the fourth set. The Mustangs took a 16-2 lead, but TexAnns answered with a 11-6 run to take back the lead at 23-21. The Mustangs came back and forced extra points before ultimately winning the fourth set 27-25.

Midwestern State carried their momentum into the fifth set, and won the match with a final score of 15-11.

Murrah ended the match with a team leading 17 kills, just one kill shy of tying Kathy Buckler for sixth-place on the Tarleton’s all-time kills list.

Covell with 11 kills and 20 digs, and Barker with 47 assists and 15 digs, both had double-doubles.  This gave Barker 3,001 total career assists, making her the second TexAnn ever to pass the 3,000 mark.

Emily Klein and Lacy Hodge had 27 and 13 digs respectively.

The TexAnns will be traveling to Denton, Texas to take on Texas Women’s University Tuesday evening, Oct. 29, at 7 p.m.