ABILENE, Texas-- The LeTourneau volleyball team lost to Hardin-Simmons 3-1 (27-25, 18-25, 25-21, 25-23) on the road on Friday night. 

The last time these two teams met in Longview, back in September, it took five sets before the YellowJackets found the edge, winning the fifth set 15-4.

Hardin-Simmons (12-12 6-6 ASC) jumped to an 8-4 lead in the first set, the four-point advantage was the largest of the set. The set saw nine tied scores and four lead changes before the Cowgirls took the final two points of the set.

LeTourneau (10-12, 6-6 ASC) would go take an early 10-3 advantage in the second set and never look back. Yari Ortiz, Hannah Payan, and Allison Smith each logged a kill in that first stretch.

Smith then worked an ace before Nora Lockhart was able to put down a kill to give the Jackets a 14-5 advantage.

The YellowJackets controlled the set as they evened the match at 1-1 with a 25-18 set win.

The third set saw a set that looked similar to the first set of the evening, going back and forth with six tied scores and four lead changes. Hardin-Simmons finished it off on a 4-1 run to take the set 25-21 and match lead at 2-1. 

LeTourneau kept fighting through the fourth set as they held a 9-8 lead early on. 

The Cowgirls found an edge after being tied at 10-10 and carried a two-point advantage at 16-14.

Hardin-Simmons extended the lead to four at 19-15. The YellowJackets stormed back and brought the deficit to one at 21-20 before the Cowgirls called a timeout.

Smith found a kill after a long rally to bring the score to 23-21 with the advantage in favor of the hosts. However, it was not enough to make a comeback as Hardin-Simmons finished the set 25-23.

Ortiz led the attack for the YellowJackets with 19 kills and held an attack percentage of .417 on the night. Payan also saw double-digit kills as she marked 12.

Reina Lawson tallied up 48 assists and 19 digs to mark a double-double.

Morgan Nix notched 38 digs on the night.

Nora Lockhart had six total blocks to lead the Jackets. Smith had four blocks and nine kills.

UP NEXT

LeTourneau will continue their road trip at McMurry on Saturday (12 p.m.) in Abilene.

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