Box Score:
BROWNWOOD, Texas – The battle of the YellowJackets!
The LeTourneau University volleyball team won a nail biting American Southwest Conference matchup at Howard Payne Friday afternoon, 25-22, 18-25, 27-25, 21-25, 15-7.
LeTourneau improved to 6-4 overall, 3-2 in the ASC. Howard Payne fell to 2-8, 1-4.
It was the third five-set match of the season for the Jackets, who hit .140. HPU had a .184 attack rate. LETU is now 3-0 in five-set matches this season.
Kaci Monk paced LeTourneau with 15 kills, hitting .371.
Kianna Crow had 13 kills, 25 digs, and three serving aces.
Skylar Fowler hit a whopping .421 with nine kills and a block, while
Natalie Connelly hit .368 with nine kills and three blocks.
Samantha Winkel finished with 23 assists, eight digs and an ace, while
Natalie Davenport had 22 assists and six digs.
Courtney Edge tallied 24 digs and three assists.
Avery Mabery chipped in eight kills and a block.
Maddy Denega and
Hannah Payan totaled three and two kills, respectively.
Howard Payne struck first to start the match, jumping out to an 8-2 lead in the first set. Monk blasted a kill from a setup by
Reina Lawson to spark a 7-0 run for LETU, knotting the set up at 13. Crow tallied two of her three aces during the run. An attack error by LeTourneau and a kill by Howard Payne's Abbie Knepper, gave HPU a 16-14 advantage over the Jackets. The duo of Monk and Lawson would sting again to ignite another run for LETU, and a kill by Payan propelled LeTourneau to take a slight lead, 19-16. The YellowJackets of LETU would not look back as they claimed the first set following a Crow putaway.
LeTourneau tallied 14 kills in the set, holding Howard Payne to six kills and a .094 attack percentage.
After falling in the second set, LETU bounced back in the crucial third set when Connelly smashed down a kill from Davenport and tallied a block with Mabery to take an 8-6 lead. A kill by HPU's Knepper and an attack error from LeTourneau tied the set at 13. Back-to-back kills by
Kylie Cobb and a putaway by Crow, pushed the YellowJacket lead to three. Howard Payne stung back, after kills from Knepper and Paighton Lawson deadlocked the set at 18. Knepper collected a service ace to take an advantage over LETU, 25-24. LeTourneau put together a 3-0 to close the book on the third set, led by two kills from Denega both assisted from Davenport. LETU took a 2-1 lead heading into the fourth set.
The Jackets of LeTourneau pounded a game high 17 kills in the set, while the Jackets of Howard Payne tallied 16.
Despite three lead changes and five ties, HPU held LETU to .107 hitting, while tallying a .204 hitting rate of its own to force a decisive fifth set.
In the fifth set, LeTourneau jumped all over Howard Payne, leaping out to an 8-3 lead when Mabery blasted one home from Winkel. Kills by Crow, Fowler and Monk all from Davenport, extended the LETU lead to eight. A serving ace from Crow gave the LeTourneau YellowJackets a commanding 14-5 lead, and a booming kill by Fowler silenced the home crowd of Howard Payne, granting LETU the match win.
LeTourneau totaled 62 kills, while HPU had 56. LETU had seven serving aces, and Howard Payne had five. Both teams had four blocks.
LETU will travel to Sul Ross to finish its weekend road trip beginning at 12 p.m. Saturday.
