Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Letourneau University Volleyball started off their 2013 campaign with a 3-0 win over Belhaven University (25-15, 25-20, 25-19).  "We came out with great energy and started better than I expected.  We started 3 Freshmen so I was anticipating some butterflies but if there was it did not show.  Our first set was actually our best of the match", said Head Coach Scott Peluso about the season opening win.  In that first set the team hitting percentage was .286 with the three starting Freshman leading the way; Middle Blocker Elyse Wright hit .600 (3 Kills, 0 Errors, 5 Attempts), Middle Blocker Skylar Horan hit .400 (2K, 0E, 5Att) and Outside Hitter Dolores Kroese hit .250 (4K, 0E, 16Att).  The team also combined for 25 Digs and 3 stuff Blocks in that opening set.
 
After building a lead of 12 points in the second set, Belhaven made a push to get within 2 points before the Yellow Jackets finished out the set.  "We lost a little focus in the second set.  I think we got a little comfortable with the big lead and stopped doing the little things in our serve receive.  That resulted in a lot of out of system swings and some errors, but I was proud of how we fought back and finished the set out", said Peluso.  The third set started out back and forth before LETU went on a run to complete the sweep of the Blazers.
 
Statistically the team was led by Sophomore Sarah Krippner with a double-double (26 Assists and 12 Digs) along with 3 service Aces, Sophomore Kayla Ronda who hit .240 (8K, 2E, 25Att) and had a team high 13 Digs, Horan who ended with a .273 hitting percentage and 3 Blocks and Kroese who added 9 Digs to her team high .300 hitting percentage.  "This was a great team effort.  We passed well, played good transition defense and spread the ball around.  Our bench was supplying all kinds of energy and I could not have scripted a better start to our season", summed up Peluso.
 
In the second match of the day the Yellow Jackets faced the tournament host, the Warriors of Hendrix College.  "This was a fun match to coach.  It was a battle from start to finish" said Peluso.  "It was good to see our team compete against a solid Hendrix team.  They are a program that we simply could not compete with the last two years and, except for the third set that we struggled to execute our offense, each set could have gone either way. We are doing a good job of limiting errors, but now we need to increase our ability to terminate plays with our attack. We played with passion and unity.  We obviously still have a lot of room for improvement but I was pleased with our overall play. "
 
The Jackets lost the match in 4 sets (23-25, 25-23, 14-25, 23-25).  Two players recorded double-doubles.  Krippner had 33 Assists and 15 Digs and Ronda had 12 Kills (.333 hitting %) and 13 Digs.  Alli Bordelon had 16 of the teams 65 Digs and Kroese added 10 Kills. 
 
The team returns to action Saturday at 10am against Lyon College and William Baptist University at 2pm to finish out the opening weekend.