RICHARDSON, Texas -- A valiant effort fell just short for the No. 4 seeded LeTourneau volleyball team on Thursday evening as the YellowJackets lost to No. 5 seed Hardin-Simmons, 3-0 (26-24, 32-30, 25-22), in the quarterfinal round of the ASC Tournament inside the UTD Activity Center.

LeTourneau ends the year 15-12 overall. Hardin-Simmons (14-9) moves on to face No. 1 seed UT Dallas on Friday in the semifinals.

Thursday's match saw plenty of back-and-forth and momentum swings throughout with all three sets decided by three or fewer points, including a wild second set. The YellowJackets had set-point chances in both the first and second sets before Hardin-Simmons answered to take both games.

LeTourneau trailed 22-17 in the opening set, but rallied back and had a set point opportunity. During a 7-1 run to take a 24-23 lead, Meghan Womack had a kill and Alexis Bowen Johnson had back-to-back kills to give the lead to the YellowJackets. However, Hardin-Simmons responded with three straight and an Aubree McCann kill gave the game to the Cowgirls at 26-24.

In the second set, it was LeTourneau that was on the verge of tying the match. The YellowJackets led 23-18 after a Kaylyn Taylor kill only to see Hardin-Simmons score six straight and grab a 24-23 edge. LeTourneau got two points back to regain the lead at 25-24.

The teams traded points over the next several rallies as LeTourneau had four set-point chances, but Hardin-Simmons kept the game alive each time. The YellowJackets staved off two Cowgirl set-point opportunities before Hardin-Simmons got a kill from Gabby Jones and an ace from Ali Meyer to earn a 32-30 set win.

The teams again traded the lead in the third set. LeTourneau went up 17-13 on a block from Bowen Johnson and Taylor before Hardin-Simmons scored four straight to even it up. Tied at 22-22, Hardin-Simmons secured the final three points to take the match.

Allison Smith and Taylor had seven kills apiece while Smith added five blocks. Morgan Nix totaled 24 digs to finish the year with a program-record 693 digs. Natalie Davenport added 15 assists and nine digs, while Reina Lawson had 10 assists, four aces, and four digs. Kaci Monk and Bowen Johnson had six kills each with Bowen Johnson adding four blocks.

Hardin-Simmons received 12 kills from McCann and Liz Underwood. McCann also had 21 digs, while Meyer had 25 assists.