LOOKOUT MOUNTAIN, Ga. -- The LeTourneau Volleyball team split its Saturday doubleheader, including a massive 3-1 (29-27, 25-20, 22-25, 25-12) victory over Coca-Cola Invitational host Covenant, before falling to Transylvania 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-18).

Aubree McCann stuffed the box score on Saturday, totaling 19 kills and 28 digs. Nothing could get past Maddy Hirneise, as she put together 54 digs between the two matches.

Emily Mullin dished out 35 assists, while Nora Lockhart and Emma Smith combined for 20 denials at the net.

LeTourneau placed 2nd at the Coca-Cola Invitational going 2-1 on the mountain, with McCann and Hirneise being named to the All-Tournament team.

MATCH ONE: LeTourneau 3, Covenant 1

With a difficult test ahead of the YellowJackets (4-2), considering the Covenant Scots were the reigning CCS Tournament champions and appeared in the NCAA Tournament a year ago, LeTourneau stepped onto the Scots (3-3) home court and took care of business.

McCann shined, dropping her second straight double-double, with 15 kills and 18 digs. Hirneise once again set a career-high in digs with 31. 

Smith also set a career-best mark, stuffing eight total blocks in the match.

The first set saw an absolute tug-of-war battle, with momentum at a standstill. No team could put together a run for more than four points. With LeTourneau on the ropes in extra points, Smith directly scored back-to-back points via a block assist followed by a kill. The set was finished off with an attack error from the Scots, and the Jackets took the first 29-27.

It seemed to be the same story for the second set, before a 17-17 knot was broke open by a pair of Logan Lear kills, two of her 13 kills in the match. This would spark seven unanswered points for LeTourneau, leading to a 25-20 set two victory.

The Scots would answer with a close set win of it's own in the third, but it wasn't enough. LeTourneau would dominate the final set, 25-12, and walk away with the win in the first-ever meeting between the teams.

Aubrianna Gerdes led Covenant in kills with 12, while Cali Sandhoff earned 13 digs and 15 assists.

MATCH TWO: Transylvania 3, LeTourneau 0

The Pioneers (5-2) were too much for the YellowJackets in the final match of the tournament, but LeTourneau held it's own against a team receiving national recognition.

Mullin was able to garner assists 13 assists, while Lear would add on to her kill total with four, bringing her up to 17 on the day.

LeTourneau had an early led in the first set, up 15-9, but not before a seven point Translyvania run evened things out. Once again the Pioneers had a huge momentum swing after a tie at 17-17, and would go on to take the first set 25-19.

The second set was also full of runs, but one too many went in favor of Transylvania, as the set was won 25-20.

The final set was the Pioneers' from whistle-to-whistle, as the lead was never stolen throughout the set.

Transylvania was led by Macy Lentz, picking up five kills (.231), 28 assists and 16 digs.

UP NEXT

The YellowJackets head to Belton, Texas with a four-match slate in the UMHB Classic on Sept 12-13.

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