Posted: Oct 10, 2019
Texas Lutheran breaks long streak against Southwestern, improves tourney chances
Texas Lutheran
(12-11,4-5 SCAC)
3
Southwestern (Tex.)
(11-10,6-4 SCAC)
1
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Texas Lutheran (12-11,4-5 SCAC) | 20 | 25 | 25 | 27 | 3 |
|
Southwestern (Tex.) (11-10,6-4 SCAC) | 25 | 17 | 21 | 25 | 1 |
SEGUIN, Texas -- On Senior Night in TLU's Memorial Gymnasium, the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs ended a 24-match losing skid to the Southwestern Pirates and moved into a tie for fifth place in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Women's Volleyball standings with a 20-25, 25-17, 25-21, 27-25 win Thursday.
TLU's victory over the Pirates marked the Bulldogs' first win in the series since Sept. 28, 2002, when TLU won in three sets in a tournament in Atlanta.
The win was TLU's first victory in SCAC play against Southwestern. TLU joined the SCAC in the fall of 2013. Southwestern had won 13 straight regular-season conference matches against TLU.
The Bulldogs improved to 12-11 overall and to 5-5 in the SCAC.
TLU is in a fifth-place tie with Centenary and now a half-game ahead of University of Dallas in the race for the SCAC Tournament, which TLU hosts Nov. 8-10. Only the top six teams in the SCAC advance to the conference tournament.
Southwestern dropped to 13-9 overall and to 6-4 in the SCAC. The Pirates are now just a half-game ahead of Austin College for third place and only a full game ahead of Centenary and TLU.
TLU rallied in the fourth set from deficits of 19-16 and 24-22. With Southwestern a point from forcing a fifth set, the Bulldogs took advantage of two Southwestern hitting errors and a Jaci Chambers (Baytown/Goose Creek Memorial) kill to take a 25-24 lead.
Another Southwestern attack error gave TLU its second match point at 26-25. TLU middle blocker Peyton Sulak (Needville/Needville) put away an attack for the match-winning point.
Senior outside/right-side hitter Bryten Mitchan (San Antonio/Highlands) led TLU with nine kills and eight blocks. Fellow senior Kelsi Menn (San Antonio/Roosevelt) added eight kills and seven blocks.
Sulak collected seven kills and three blocks, and Chambers recorded 28 digs and 21 assists. Lexi Morris (Victoria/Victoria West) contributed 20 digs.
TLU tallied 11 blocks and held Southwestern to a hitting percentage of .076. Southwestern was hurt by 13 service errors. Each team had six aces.
The Bulldogs take a break from SCAC action this weekend with two matches Saturday in Longview, Texas - against Belhaven (Miss.) and LeTourneau.
