HOUSTON, Texas -- Volleyball lost to St. Thomas in their first match of the Avery Rae Invitational on Saturday afternoon (25-23, 25-20, 26-24), but rebounded to defeat UC Santa Cruz in five sets (13-25, 25-18, 25-14, 22-25, 15-11).

LeTourneau moves to 13-15 (3-5 ASC), while St. Thomas improves to 12-14 (4-6 SCAC), and UC Santa Cruz falls to 14-13 (3-1 CAC).

In the St. Thomas match, Kaci Monk paced the offense with 10 kills and Reina Lawson added 21 assists, while on defense, Allison Smith had seven blocks and Morgan Nix dug out 25 attacks.

In the match against UC Santa Cruz, three players had 10 kills (Smith, Dylan Presley, and Kaylyn Taylor) to lead that category. Emma Smith also tied her season-high with nine kills in that match. Lawson notched five service aces and 20 assists, while defensively, Smith tallied six blocks and Nix had 29 digs.

After a loss to St. Thomas in three to begin the day, the YellowJackets needed to answer.

They answered.

After a set one loss, a 7-2 run in the second set sparked LeTourneau to take a 25-18 set win and even things up at a set apiece. Lawson fooled the defense with two aces in that stretch.

A similar story unfolded in the third set, with a 9-0 run leading the YellowJackets to a 2-1 set advantage. Lawson tallied two aces in this stretch as well.

After the YellowJackets' loss in the fourth set, they responded again in the fifth set to win it by a 15-11 score, with kills from Smith and Presley ending the matter.

For the Celts, Alexis Bodunrin had 16 kills, Kendall Howard had 21 assists, and Kara Spice notched 23 digs. The Banana Slugs were led by Kelly Ann Greene with her 16 kills, Margo Melgoza with her 39 assists, and Anna Hospodar with her 25 digs.

UP NEXT

LeTourneau will head back on the road next Saturday to play another two matches, first against Hendrix at 10 a.m., and then versus Rhodes at 5 p.m. 

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