On Oct. 8 the Roadrunners came from behind in a five set thriller against the Lamar Cardinals.
The Cardinals took the first two sets (17-25, 16-25), but the Roadrunners came back strong in the third set with a 25-22 victory that would be the turning point of the game. After their fourth tie score of the set the Roadrunners rallied back with three points to put them in the lead at 15-12. Late in the third set after setting the ball for Briana Mason to get the kill that would put the Roadrunners up 17-15, Amber Brooks sprained her ankle and was unable to return to the game. But the Roadrunners still had some fight left. They took the fourth set 25-19 to force a fifth set that they dominated for a 15-10 win.
Leading the offense was Mason with 15 kills. Kendra Rowland and Whitney Walls also helped with 12 and 10 kills respectively.
The game on Saturday against Sam Houston State did not yield the same results. The Roadrunners started off losing the first two sets, but after the intermission they took over the third set holding off the Bearkats by four points for a 25-21 win. In the fourth set the Roadrunners were able to go on a 12 point rally to take the lead and tie the Bearkats with two sets a piece. Unfortunately the come from behind win that everyone expected did not happen. The Bearkats took an early lead in the fifth set and the Roadrunners could not catch up to them. The Bearkats finished the set 15-7 to win the game.
Head Coach Laura Neugebauer-Groff expressed her disappointment after the tough loss.
“Very disappointed, just from the stand point, you know that we did come back and fight and we were on a roll and we just didn’t play smart in game 5.”
And the rest of the team knows what needs to be done to pull more wins this season.
“The final push, finishing every game. We have our lulls towards the end many times. (We have to) work on finishing and blocking too,” Kendra Rowland said.
The Roadrunners face off against McNeese State (14-5) Wednesday, Oct.14 at the Convocation Center.