Box Score:
LONGVIEW, Texas – Resilient!
One word that describes the LeTourneau University Volleyball team its last two contests. LETU has accomplished a comeback in its last two matches, winning both in five sets.
LeTourneau rallied from a two-set deficit to beat Concordia Texas in a five-set marathon Friday night. The YellowJackets defeated the Tornadoes 12-25, 23-25, 25-18, 25-18, 15-7.
The Jackets moved one game over .500 overall, and 2-1 in the American Southwest Conference. Concordia fell to 1-7, 1-2.
LETU dropped the first two sets of the night, despite hitting .229 in the second set compared to CTX's .206. The Tornados had 10 putaways and hit .391 in the first set, while LeTourneau had seven kills and had a .03 attack percentage.
LeTourneau got the ball rolling in the third set, after
Kaci Monk's back-to-back kills put the Jackets ahead, 9-8. LETU went on to rattle off a five-point run behind the serving of
Courtney Edge, who tallied two serving aces throughout the run, giving the YellowJackets a 14-9 lead. A kill by
Hannah Payan from
Reina Lawson and an error committed by the Tornados, extended the LETU lead to six. A block by Concordia's Audri Crawford and Alyssa Legette, put CTX within three, 21-18. After kills by
Kianna Crow and Monk, the Jackets went on a 4-0 run to close out the set, making the match 2-1.
The YellowJackets held Concordia to a .14 hitting percentage in the set, while putting together a .257 attack rate.
LETU jumped out to a 5-0 lead to open the fourth set after
Avery Mabery and
Natalie Connelly came up with a block. The Tornados cut it to 5-7 following a LeTourneau hitting error. An attack error committed by Concordia and a service ace from Lawson pushed the Jackets ahead, 9-5. Monk slammed home a ball, while Crow had a sweet serving ace to extend the LETU lead, 13-6. A 5-0 run by the YellowJackets, which featured three kills from Connelly, Monk and Payan, propelled the LeTourneau lead to 11. The Jackets would never trail in the set, tying the match, 2-2.
LeTourneau hammered down 12 kills with just two errors for a .278 hitting percentage. The Tornados were held to .097 on 10 kills and seven errors.
In the decisive final set, Mabery blasted down a putaway from
Samantha Winkel to put the Jackets up, 4-1. A kill from Concordia's Kylexus Block and an LETU error, the Tornados closed the gap, 4-3. The YellowJackets reeled off the next four points after Connelly smashed down a kill from Winkel, taking a 8-3 advantage. A kill by Payan extended the Jackets lead to six, 10-4. Back-to-back kills from CTX's Nicole Deering and Crawford, slimmed the LETU lead to four. It wasn't enough for the Tornados, after back-to-back putaways from Payan and a kill from Mabery, sandwiched between an CTX error, gave the Jackets the win.
Payan finished the contest with a career-high 15 kills, hitting .429. Connelly had a season-high 10 kills and seven blocks. Smith had eight kills and two blocks, while Monk tallied eights kills and five blocks. Crow ended with six kills and nine digs. Mabery had five kills, nine digs, two serving aces and a block. Edge finished with 27 digs, while Winkel and Lawson had 21 assists each.
LeTourneau outblocked Concordia, 11-7. LETU had a .221 attack rate, while the Tornados hit .178. The YellowJackets tallied 57 kills. CTX had 48 kills. LETU had a season-high nine serving aces.
The Jackets will host reigning ASC champions Mary Hardin-Baylor Saturday at 2 p.m.
