JACKSON, Miss. - The LeTourneau volleyball team rounded out its trip to Jackson with two matches at the Millsaps Invitational. The YellowJackets dropped a tightly contested match against Millsaps before collecting their third win of the season against Huntingdon.
LeTourneau (3-5) defeated Huntingdon in four sets (25-22, 23-25, 29-27, 25-10) after dropping a heart-breaking five-set loss (27-25, 18-25, 21-25, 25-12, 15-13) to Millsaps.
MATCH TWO: LeTourneau 3, Huntingdon 1
Rebekah Dragoo put together an incredible 40-dig effort to lead the LeTourneau defense. Offensively, Ashlyn Walther and Kassidy Meyer led the way with nine kills, while Claire Bezanilla contributed eight. Hailee Perry dished out 23 assists, and freshman Gabby Ovalle added a season-high 19.
Huntingdon led early in the contest as it held a 19-16 advantage in the first, before LeTourneau went on a 6-0 run that helped secure the opening set, 25-22
The back-and-forth second-set saw the teams knotted at 23-23, but a couple of YellowJacket errors gave Huntingdon the second set, evening the match at one set all.
LeTourneau put itself in a good position to win the third-set as it led 19-15, before things were complicated by a 5-0 Huntingdon run. However, the YellowJackets would not be denied as they made good on their fifth set-point to take the set 29-27.
The fourth-set was smooth sailing as LeTourneau used a 13-4 start to cruise to a comfortable 25-10 win.
Lily VanDyke led Huntingdon in kills with 10.
MATCH ONE: Millsaps 3, LeTourneau 2
Freshman Elizabeth Corbitt led the Jackets attack with 18 kills, while Walther added 11. Perry set a career-high for the third time this season with 27 assists, while also garnering 12 digs. Dragoo led LeTourneau's defense with 37 digs.
LeTourneau saw itself down 19-15 in the first-set before rallying to take a 24-22 lead. However, the Jackets couldn't quite get over the hump as Millsaps took the opener 27-25.
The early stages of the second set were tightly contested as LeTourneau held a slim 11-10 lead. A Walther kill, followed by three Millsaps attack errors, put the YellowJackets in control of the second set as they cruised to a 25-18 win to even the match at one set all.
Millsaps seemed to retake the momentum early in the third-set as they led 10-6, but LeTourneau responded with a 9-0 explosion to go up 15-10. Millsaps would close the gap to three late, but LeTourneau eventually took the set 25-21.
The fourth-set was all Millsaps as they used two separate 4-0 runs to take it 25-13 and force a deciding set.
The YellowJackets started the fifth-set off quickly as they jumped out to a 6-2 lead. Millsaps responded with a spurt of its own to even the set at 12-12. With the match on the line, it was Millsaps who came up with the winning plays as they won the deciding set 15-13.
Khloe Duncan led the Millsaps attack with 21 kills.
