Eagles head to conference tourney on 6-game win streak
LITTLE ROCK— While it may have taken longer than expected, A&m-texarkana put away Philander Smith College in straight sets Friday to close out the regular season with a non-district win. The Eagles (24-8) will head into next week’s RRAC Championships on a sixgame win streak, all of which were won in straight sets.
The Panthers (12-15) dropped their second match to TAMU-T this season, this one coming by scores of 2523, 25-23, 25-15. But despite the close scores in the first two sets, the Eagles rarely trailed as there were eight tie scores and only four lead changes in the match, all coming before the third set.
TAMU-T hit .214 for the match, including a highly efficient .343 in the third set, finishing the match with 45 kills to just 20 errors. Alanna Deering finished with a game-high 14 kills, Ashley Phares had nine and Mia Mate had seven. Deering hit an astounding .600 with 14 kills and just two errors in 20 attempts.
Zuleica Cruz posted a double-double with 18 assists and 14 digs while Kimberlee Joyce had 15 assists to go with seven digs and five aces. Faith Herrera added 13 digs and Madison Arrieta had 11.
The Eagles (13-3 RRAC) will enter the RRAC Championships as the No. 3 seed behind Our Lady of the Lake (15-1) and Xavier (14-2). Their first-round opponent is yet to be determined. The tournament takes place Nov. 10-11 in New Orleans, hosted by Xavier.
EAGLES FORCE OVERTIME BEFORE FALLING TO LSU-SHREVEPORT IN RRAC QUARTERFINALS
SHREVEPORT, La. — A&m-texarkana pushed top-seed Lsu-shreveport to overtime Friday in the opening round of the RRAC Championships, but the hosts prevailed with a goal in the first OT period and advanced with a 1-0 victory.
The Eagles (9-9-1) were outshot 21-4 and had just one attempt on target but were able to deny the Pilots (14-4-1) despite facing 13 shots on goal. The Pilots attempted eight shots in the first half, 10 in the second, and three in overtime.
Jacob Mendez made eight saves in his final start in goal for TAMU-T and had a clean sheet until Alex Charles scored an unassisted goal for LSU-S just 64 seconds into the first overtime period.
The Pilots advance to the semifinals next week while the Eagles’ season comes to an end after posting the first winning regular season record in program history.
EAGLES FINISH SECOND AT RRAC CHAMPIONSHIPS AS MAGASSA QUALIFIES FOR NATIONALS
The A&m-texarkana women completed their triumphant turnaround season with a second-place team finish Friday at the 2023 Red River Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships.
Minana Magassa will
represent the team at the NAIA National Championships later this month thanks to her Top 3 individual finish. The junior from France finished second overall with a time of 23:02.8 and crossed just three seconds after the top finisher.
Freshman Zalenka Brannan finished fourth, less than two seconds behind the final national qualifier spot. Ana Ximena Loya (eighth) and Daniela Hernandez (10th) also finished in the Top 10.
The Eagles had six runners in the Top 20 as Kassandra Munguia (16th) and Angelique Colon (18th) added to the teams’ solid performance. Skyler Brannan came in 37th.
DORSETT WINS CONFERENCE TITLE, EAGLES FINISH SECOND AT RRAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
A&m-texarkana senior Charles Dorsett III won an individual title and helped the Eagles claim a second-place team finish Friday at the 2023 Red River Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships. Dorsett’s Top 3 individual finish puts him in the NAIA National Championship meet in Vancouver, Wa., scheduled for Nov. 17.
The Eagles finished behind only Our Lady of the Lake, who captured the team title with 24 points, while the Eagles finished with 41. Xavier rounded out the Top 3 teams with 78 points.
Dorsett clocked a winning time of 26:13.9 in the men’s 8K race, which was 3.5 seconds faster than the next finisher and 13 seconds in front of third. Shea Johnson (fifth) and David Hernandez (sixth) gave the Eagles a total of three runners to finish in the Top 10. Johnson and Hernandez crossed the finish line less than a half-second apart.
Matthew Morin and Jeb White finished 14th and 20th, respectively, giving the team a total of five finishers in the Top 20. Chapman White came in 24th and Chris Korir was 28th.