LONGVIEW, Texas – The LeTourneau volleyball team avenged an early-season loss to the Belhaven Blazers with a 3-1 (25-21, 22-25, 25-16, 25-17) win in Solheim on Tuesday night.
The YellowJackets were led offensively by Elizabeth Corbitt (12 kills) and Nora Lockhart (10 kills), who kept Belhaven on their heels for much of the night. LeTourneau received contributions across the board as it also got seven kills from Kylee Marksberry, Ashlyn Walther, and Claire Bezanilla.
Hailee Perry spread the wealth as she accounted for 24 of the 49 LeTourneau assists, finding her teammates early and often. Gabby Ovalle also made her eighth appearance in a match this season, and dished out 11 assists.
Defensively, Kassidy Meyer had a career-high six blocks, while Rebekah Dragoo led the Jackets in digs with 23. Additionally, Maddy Hirneise garnered 13 digs, while Lockhart had 5 blocks.
Belhaven (9-9, 4-2 CCS) had a quick start, jumping out to a 7-1 lead to open the match. LeTourneau (8-10, 4-2 SCAC) would come back later in the set with a 6-1 run to even the score at 17-17. Trailing 21-20, the Jackets would rattle off five straight, aided by back-to-back kills from Meyer, to take the first-set 25-21.
LeTourneau continued their momentum into the second set, leading 16-13 after consecutive kills from Bezanilla. However, Belhaven used a decisive 10-2 run to take control of the set, before finishing it off 25-22.
Leading 7-5, LeTourneau blew the third-set open, using a huge service run from Bezanilla that included the first three aces of her collegiate career, to take an 18-6 lead. Bezanilla finished with five aces for the match. Belhaven would try to mount a comeback, getting as close as six, but the YellowJackets would grab four of the last five points to take the set 25-16.
The fourth-set remained close for a while as LeTourneau held a 15-13 lead going into the technical timeout. However, the Jackets were able to pull away and close out the final set 25-17, finishing off their eighth win of the season.
UP NEXT
LeTourneau will be back in Solheim on Friday to take on Hendrix in a SCAC Blue Division showdown at 6:00 PM.
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