The LeTourneau University volleyball team split a pair of matches – defeating Howard Payne (25-18, 25-17, 25-13) and losing to McMurry (25-27, 23-25, 16-25) on Saturday.

LeTourneau (5-10, 1-3 ASC) was led by sophomore Elyse Wright in the two contests. The sophomore from Houston had a team-high 10 kills against Howard Payne and 12 more for team-high honors against McMurry.

Howard Payne (0-10, 0-4 ASC) was led by Briana Williams, who had seven kills including four in the decisive third set for the visitors from Brownwood. HPU had seven service aces in the match including four from Micah Cisernoz.

LeTourneau controlled the match with a blistering .250 hitting percentage. Wright hit at .500 clip to pace the attack; plus five of her 10 kills came in the third set. Sophomore setter Alyssa Eden registered her first double double of the season with 11 digs and 10 assists in the win. Junior Kayla Ronda added seven kills and freshman Rachel Earle had a hand on six blocks for the victory.

In the nightcap, it was tightly contested throughout the match but it was the balanced attack and a frontline that combined for 18 blocks for the visiting War Hawks that prevailed. Catherine Heath of McMurry registered a team-high 10 kills and added three block assists to lead the visitors to the victory.

Wright had 12 kills including seven in the first set for LeTourneau. Sophomore Skylar Horan added five block assists and five kills in the loss; plus junior Kayla Ronda had seven kills, five digs and two blocks.

The War Hawks hit .229 in the win with Heath posting a .231 hitting percentage and Kayla Hines adding seven kills including decisive ones in the first two sets.

LeTourneau will return to the rigors of the American Southwest Conference for its next two matches away from home. First, they will travel to Sul Ross State on Friday, Sept. 26 at 4 p.m., followed by a match at Texas-Dallas on Tuesday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m.