Bulldogs Sink 16th-Ranked Pirates with Senior Day Sweep

SEGUIN, Texas -- The Texas Lutheran Volleyball team swept its third straight match, sweeping No. 16 Southwestern, 25-20, 25-23, 25-22, on Senior Day at Memorial Gymnasium.

It marked just the fifth win by Texas Lutheran (16-7, 8-3 SCAC) over Southwestern (18-4, 8-3 SCAC) in program history and the first sweep of the Pirates since 2002. The win is the first top 25 win for the Bulldogs this season.

The Bulldogs tallied 12.0 blocks, with Ryann Ely (Montgomery/Concordia Lutheran) and Briana Salvatierra-Moore (San Antonio/Antonian College Prep) tallying four each while Victoria Powell (Richmond/Fulshear) and Zaria Solis (Burnet/Burnet) added three.

Offensively, freshman Andie Lozano-Lomeli (Brownsville/Pace) led the squad with 10 kills on a .692 hitting percentage while adding two blocks in front of her former high school teammates who made the trip to Seguin for Friday's match. Ryann Ely wasn't far behind with nine kills.

Shavonne Respondek (San Antonio/Madison) contributed 18 assists and 16 digs for her 19th double-double of the season. Friday night, Respondek moved into sixth all-time in TLU program history as she increased her career total to 1,499, passing Megan Dugie (1,488, 2012-15). Faith Coldewey (Floresville/Floresville) posted 23 digs, four assists and a crucial service ace.

The Bulldogs held Southwestern to a 0.00 hitting percentage, its lowest hitting percentage of the season.

The first set was close throughout as the opening set saw 11 ties and seven lead changes. Texas Lutheran trailed 12-8 before going on an 8-4 run to go up 18-16. Southwestern answered to tie the set 18-all but the Bulldogs would take over and win the set, 25-20, behind four kills from Zaria Solis.

The second set saw the two teams play another tight set with two teams tied 21-all late in the set, forcing a TLU timeout. The Bulldogs would outscore the Pirates 4-2 to close the set and take a 2-0 lead. Four kills and a block from Lozano-Lomeli and senior Brylie Nedd (Sealy/Sealy) led TLU in the second set.

TLU trailed 17-15 in the third set before head coach Phyllis Fowler called another time out. The Bulldogs would come out on fire following the break, outscoring the Pirates 10-5 down the stretch to secure the sweep as Ryann Ely tallied six kills and Briana Salvatierra-Moore had four blocks in the final set.

Following the match, Texas Lutheran honored its four seniors: Julia Chew (Cypress/Cy-Fair), Coldewey, Nedd, and Respondek.

Up next, Texas Lutheran will travel to Austin for their final conference matches of the regular season as they battle for seeding in the 2024 SCAC Tournament. The Bulldogs will open the weekend with Colorado College on Friday, Nov. 8 at 4:30 PM on the campus of Concordia University. The match will be streamed on FloSports. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com.

For more information on Texas Lutheran volleyball, follow the Bulldogs on Facebook (TLU Volleyball), X (Twitter) (@TLU_VB), and Instagram (@tlu_vb) and as always you can find updates on all Texas Lutheran athletics on tlubulldogs.com and all official TLU social media channels (@tluathletics on X (Twitter), @tlu_athletics on Instagram, and @tlubulldogs on Facebook).