SANDUSKY, Ohio -- LeTourneau volleyball finished their season-opening road trip with a morning doubleheader, falling to Allegheny in five sets (20-25, 26-24,17-25, 25-21,16-14) and Case Western Reserve in four sets (22-25, 25-22, 25-18, 25-17) on Saturday.

Kaci Monk led the offensive charge with 29 total kills on the day, which included tying her career-best with 17 against Allegheny.  Hannah Payan contributed a team-best 13 kills against Case Western Reserve and 24 kills overall between the two matches.  Reina Lawson led the assist department with 47, with Grace Talkington adding 34.  Lawson also totaled nine aces.  

On defense, Nora Lockhart had 11 blocks to pace the team in that category, with Monk adding seven.  Morgan Nix continued to push for the school record in digs with 42 on the day.  She is now 47 digs shy of the record.

In the first match against Allegheny, the YellowJackets found some major positives in the first set, leading by as many as 11 at one point and cruising to a 25-20 victory behind Payan and Monk's offensive firepower. 

After a loss in set two and a close early third set, LeTourneau responded with an 8-1 run to close out the set behind a kill and an ace from Allison Smith and multiple forced errors by the defense to take a 2-1 set advantage. 

The YellowJackets were unable to hold on, however, as back-to-back tight sets went the Gators' way and they took the match, 3-2.

The second match of the day for LeTourneau looked promising after another late 6-0 run led to a 25-22 set one victory for the YellowJackets. During that stretch, three kills from Payan and two from Logan Lear punctuated the rally. However, the Spartans of Case Western Reserve took the final three sets as LeTourneau fell, 3-1.

Allegheny was led on offense by Angelee Bawek, who had an incredible 25 kills in the match to lead all players. Jacy Diaz had a match-high 25 digs, while Izzy Gray (29) and Meagan Robare (25) combined for 54 assists.

For Case Western Reserve, Amanda Ngo paced all players with 17 kills, while Carly Scott added 32 assists and 20 digs, both team-highs.

UP NEXT

The YellowJackets head to Memphis, Tenn., next weekend to play two doubleheaders in the Rhodes College Classic on September 6 and 7. The first match on the 6th will be against Moravian at 4 p.m., followed by a match against Rhodes at 7 p.m.

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