LONGVIEW -- It had been billed as a Blue Out. LeTourneau University students arrived early, lined up just to get inside Solheim Arena and snatch a free t-shirt in the process.

The YellowJackets volleyball team did the rest.

Pitted against its rival, LeTourneau avenged an early-season loss at East Texas Baptist, beating the Tigers, 22-25, 25-23, 25-18, 25-12, Tuesday night. The win moved the Jackets into sole possession of second place in the American Southwest Conference East Division. LETU (12-7, 5-3 ASC) won its fifth consecutive match. ETBU (11-8, 4-4) fell a game behind the YellowJackets in the standings. It was just the fourth win in the last 22 matches against the Tigers. 

LeTourneau, which hit .233, rebounded after dropping a first set marked by six ties and two lead changes. The YellowJackets used a kill by setter Natalie Davenport, the ASC East Division Offensive Player of the Week, to take a 20-16 lead in the second set. Still sitting on a four-point lead five serves later, LETU used a kill by Taylor Smith to move within two points of knotting the match at a set apiece. Following an ETBU sideout, the Jackets picked up a kill by Lexie Welton and an ETBU attack to tie it at 1-1.

In the pivotal third set, the Jackets raced out to a 17-12 lead before the Tigers cut the gap to two. Kianna Crow and Smith each had putaways, and ETBU committed an error to put the YellowJackets ahead, 20-16. After a Tigers sideout, Crow went on a tear, pounding four straight kills to send the Blue-Crazed public address announcer into delirium as LETU took a 24-17 lead. After East Texas Baptist won the next point, Davenport put down a ball to give the Jackets a 2-1 lead.

LETU hit .357 in the third, pounding 18 kills, while committing only three attack errors. The YellowJackets had a 77 percent sideout rate, converting on 14 of 18 chances. 

The Jackets put it away in the fourth, stinging the Tigers by holding them to a -.061 hitting percentage. Welton's kill gave LeTourneau an 11-4 lead in a set the YellowJackets never surrendered the lead. A setting error by the Tigers widened the margin to 17-7, and LETU used a 4-0 run on a kill and an ace by Mikayla Thomas, along with putaways by Natalie Connelly and Crow. Leading 22-12, the Jackets wrapped this one up with a blue bow on top after a three-point finish touched off by kills by Connelly and Smith.

Crow banged down 21 kills, had 18 digs, two blocks, and hit .327. Smith had 10 kills and 16 digs. Davenport had 50 assists and an ace. Thomas and Welton each had nine kills, and Connelly eight. Cam Taylor, the two-time ASC East Defensive Player of the Week, had 25 digs and an ace. Thomas had three of the YellowJackets' five aces and three blocks, including two solos. Audrey Galindo had nine digs.  

The YellowJackets host Belhaven at 11 a.m. and Texas Lutheran at 3 p.m. on Parents Day Saturday.