MARSHALL, Texas -- LeTourneau University's volleyball team dropped its American Southwest Conference opener at East Texas Baptist Tuesday night, losing 25-20, 19-25, 25-19, 25-14.

The YellowJackets (4-5, 0-1 ASC) picked up momentum in the second set when they outhit the Tigers (7-3, 1-0). LeTourneau had a .206 attack percentage in the set, while holding ETBU to .132.

LETU took a 19-16 lead in the set on a kill by Lexie Welton. Natalie Davenport put away a setup from Kiari Johnson to extend the Jackets' lead to four. Kianna Crow's ace made it 22-17. Taylor Smith's kill pushed it to 23-18. Welton put down a winner to bring the YellowJackets within a point of tying the match, and Cam Taylor's serve resulted in an ETBU error to knot it at a set apiece.

LeTourneau fell behind, 11-6, in the third set before closing the gap to two on a kill by Davenport and a setting error by the Tigers. ETBU pushed its lead back to five before Crow hammered home a ball to make it 17-14. But the Tigers re-extended the advantage back to five, and LETU could not recover.

The YellowJackets were held to .136 hitting hitting in the third, while the Tigers had a .250 attack rate. LeTourneau had 13 kills and seven errors in the set. East Texas Baptist had 12 kills and three errors.

LeTourneau surrendered the first six points in the fourth set before recovering to cut it to 9-6 on Johnson's putaway. But following a kill by Welton, the Tigers went on a 5-0 run to take a 15-7 lead. The YellowJackets were not able to shrink the deficit lower than seven the rest of the way. 

Crow finished with 16 kills and 14 digs. Welton and Smith each had eight kills. Smith added 14 digs and two blocks. Mikayla Thomas had six kills and two aces. Davenport had 33 assists, five kills and 10 digs. Kennedy Peacock had 13 kills, and hit .393 for ETBU. Bailey Byas added seven kills, and Savannah Stanley 17 digs.

The YellowJackets will play at Belhaven in Jackson, Mississipi on Friday.