TYLER, Texas - Never truly able to find their rhythm offensively, the LeTourneau University volleyball team could not overcome a strong output by the University of Texas Tyler in a three set defeat in Tyler, Texas on Wednesday, October 11th. 

Scores of the sets were 25-21, 25-11, and 25-12. 

Things would get off to a rough start from the get go as the Patriots would score the first five points of the match and quickly jump out to a 10-3 lead in the first set. LETU would manage to fall behind by a score of 13-3 before battling back by scoring seven of the next nine points to close the gap to 17-9. Trailing 21-12 late in the first set, the YellowJackets managed to go on another large run by scoring eight of the next 10 points, but the early hole would be too large in a 25-21 defeat. 

Hoping to use some momentum built off the end of the first set, LeTourneau would again see the Patriots jump out early by building a 5-2 lead and never letting the YellowJackets get any closer as the lead would balloon to 16-5 after an 8-0 run by UTT. Points would be few and far in between for LETU in the set before ultimately dropping the second set by a score of 25-11 that saw the Patriots hit .312 in the set. 

Facing a two sets to zero hole, UT-Tyler would keep pressure on the YellowJackets despite LETU keeping pace with the Patriots early on in the set. A kill by Hailey Matthews would be the start of three straight points for LeTourneau to cut the UTT lead to 11-9 and force a Patriot timeout. The timeout would seem to do the trick for UTT as the next three points would go to UT-Tyler as part of a run that saw the Patriots score nine of the next 10 points to open up a 20-10 lead and run away with a final set victory of 25-12. 

After committing only two attack errors en route to hitting .206 in the first set, LETU would be held to negative attack percentages in the second and third set while being forced into eight attack errors in each of the last two sets. UT-Tyler held a commanding 9-4 advantage in service aces while collecting 10 blocks compared to only four for the YellowJackets.

Individually, eight kills by Matthews would lead LETU while sophomore Mikayla Thomas had six kills and a team high attack percentage of .235. Senior Korissa White had 11 set assists to go with one service ace while Liz Williams had a team-high 10 digs. 

An opportunity for a big weekend is in store for the YellowJackets as they travel to Abilene, Texas to take part in the second American Southwest Conference Crossover Tournament of the season. LETU will play at Hardin-Simmons University on Friday and take on Sul Ross State University at 10 a.m. before squaring off with the Cowgirls at 5:30 p.m. Saturday will see the YellowJackets play at McMurry University and take on Concordia University Texas at 3 p.m.