LONGVIEW, Texas - A back and forth match saw the LeTourneau University volleyball team battle back from a two sets to one deficit to force a deciding fifth game before ultimately falling by a final of 3-2 to Belhaven University at Solheim Arena on Friday, September 29th. 

The YellowJackets slipped to 4-12 overall and 0-6 in the American Southwest Conference while the visiting Blazers improved to 10-6 overall and 5-2 in the ASC. 

Set one saw neither team jump out to a lead of more than four points in the set as nobody could gain momentum and go on a rally. With the score 21-19 in favor of Belhaven, LETU would close out the set on a 6-2 run with three consecutive BU attack errors leading to a first set victory for the YellowJackets. 

A problematic second set would see LeTourneau hit just .024 in the set while Belhaven would use an early run to build their lead and never look back en route to a 25-16 set win. The Blazers biggest lead would come at 21-8 before the YellowJackets managed to battle back to win some points and go into the third set knotted at one. 

The third set would see LETU have to play from behind for a majority of the set with Belhaven opening up leads of 8-1 and 18-11 forcing head coach Ashley Tiernan to use both of her timeouts. Trailing 19-11, the YellowJackets would reel off five straight points and pull the match to 21-20, but would concede the next three points as Belhaven would squeak out a 25-22 set win. 

Using the momentum and feeding off the crowd from a near-comeback in set three, LeTourneau would find a way to earn their second 25-23 set win of the night in the fourth set and force a match deciding fifth set. 

Unforced errors managed to put LETU in an early fifth set hole they could never recover from as they would see a potential victory slip away and the Blazers managed to pull away for a 15-8 set win to win the match 3-2. 

Freshman Hailey Matthews just missed out on a double-double, finishing with 27 digs and nine kills while senior Korissa White had 23 assists. Fellow senior Elyse Wright led all players with 16 kills in the match while adding four assisted blocks. 

The YellowJackets will close out a six-game homestand tomorrow morning at 11 a.m. when they play host to Louisiana College. The Wildcats dropped a three set match to East Texas Baptist Friday night and are 0-12 on the season including an 0-7 ASC mark.