HOUSTON, Texas -- The LeTourneau volleyball team opened the season with a pair of losses at St. Thomas on Friday and Saturday. The YellowJackets fell 3-1 (25-23, 24-26, 25-17, 25-21) on Friday night before suffering another 3-1 (25-18, 28-30, 25-15, 25-14) defeat on Saturday.

LeTourneau (0-2) was led on the weekend by Kaci Monk's 25 kills and .311 hitting percentage, while Grace Talkington and Reina Lawson had double-doubles in both matches and Morgan Nix averaged 8.25 digs per set.

It was a battle between the two teams on both days as they combined for 37 ties and 17 lead changes between the two matches.

On Friday night, Monk had 12 kills and hit .294 while Yari Ortiz added 11 kills and six digs in the four-set loss. Lawson added 17 assists with 21 digs and Talkington had 13 assists with 11 digs. Nix totaled 38 digs and eight assists. Emma Smith tallied eight kills with Allison Smith and Hannah Payan adding five each.

LeTourneau dropped the opening set 25-23, but rallied back in the second to even the match. The YellowJackets trailed 17-10 in the second before using a 6-1 run late to catch up at 22 apiece as Payan and Allison Smith provided kills during the run. Tied at 24-24, Monk and Ortiz recorded back-to-back kills to give the YellowJackets to 26-24 set win.

LeTourneau had 14 kills in the set, the most in the match for the YellowJackets.

St. Thomas (2-0) recovered in the third set for a 25-17 win and finished it off in the fourth, holding off the visitors 25-21.

Audrey Cataline led all players with 17 kills and Kara Spice tallied 41 digs for the host Celts.

On Saturday, a similar story unfolded. St. Thomas took the opening set, LeTourneau rallied in the second to even the contest, but then the Celts took the final two games to earn the match win.

Monk had 13 kills on Saturday with Ortiz adding 10. Lawson totaled 22 assists with 12 digs with Talkington going for 14 assists and 13 digs.

Nix again led the back with 28 digs and Faith Keating added eight kills.

St. Thomas took the opening set 25-18 and led 24-21 in the second before LeTourneau stormed back. Emma Smith had two kills sandwiched around a Keating termination during a three-point run that tied the score at 24. The teams traded points before three straight Monk kills gave the YellowJackets a 30-28 set win. LeTourneau had 21 kills in the second set.

Slow starts in the third and fourth sets were too much for LeTourneau to overcome as St. Thomas sealed the win.

Cataline added 16 kills for St. Thomas in the win.

UP NEXT

LeTourneau heads to Georgetown for the Southwestern Fall Invitational next weekend. The YellowJackets take on Texas Lutheran on Friday at 12:15 p.m.

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