Volleyball Survives to Take Five-Set Thriller vs. Whitworth

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- Texas Lutheran volleyball rallied for a dramatic 3-2 win over Whitworth, 21-25, 26-24, 23-25, 25-20, 25-23, in their final match of the Trinity National Invitational held in Trinity's Calgaard Gymnasium in San Antonio.

Whitworth claimed the first set 25-21 before the Bulldogs answered with the 26-24 victory in the second. The third set belonged to the Pirates, with Whitworth winning 25-23, but Texas Lutheran forced the deciding fifth set with a 25-20 victory in the fourth. As was the case the entire match, the two teams traded points throughout the fifth set before the Bulldogs put the Pirates away 25-23.

With the win, Texas Lutheran leaves the Trinity National Invitational with a 2-1 record - improving to 3-1 in the tournament in the last two seasons.

Brylie Nedd (Sealy/Sealy) finished with a career-high 19 kills, hitting .302 in the five-set match. She also matched her career-high with 16 digs for her first double-double of the 2023 season and added two blocks (one solo) and two assists.

Emily Mixon (Woodville/Woodville) had a career-high 16 kills, while hitting .351 in the match. Tanyse Moehrig (Spring Branch/Smithson Valley) had 16 kills as well as six digs and a block.

Julia Chew (Cypress/Cy-Fair) had a career-high 31 assists to go with 15 digs and two aces for her second double-double of the weekend. Shavonne Respondek (San Antonio/Madison) had 27 assists and 15 digs to go with five kills and two aces for her second consecutive double-double of the weekend.

Faith Coldewey (Floresville/Floresville) led the Bulldogs with a career-high 30 digs and added nine assists and two aces. Keriann Kallus (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) had 13 kills, five digs and two blocks. Ridley Kelly (Missouri City/Elkins) had eight digs and three clutch aces down the stretch.

The Bulldogs were in control to start the match, leading the Pirates 18-15 before they mounted a comeback to take the first set 25-21.

The Bulldogs bounced back in the second set to tie the match 1-1 with a 26-24 win. Moehrig and Nedd led the Bulldogs through the second set with four kills each.

The two teams went back and forth throughout the third set before Whitworth eventually took the set 25-23.

Texas Lutheran sent the match to a fifth set, edging out Whitworth 25-20 in the fourth set. Moehrig, Mixon, Nedd, and Kallus combined for 18 kills in the fourth set to keep TLU alive.

The final set was an exciting stretch of volleyball as neither team wanted to give as the two teams blew past the customary 15-point fifth-set mark to play a full set that saw TLU overcome the Pirates 25-23. Ridley Kelly had two aces while Emily Mixon took over with six kills and a block in the decisive set.

Texas Lutheran will travel to Georgetown for the Southwestern Fall Invitational September 8-9. The Bulldogs will kick off the tournament on Friday, September 8, with matches against American Southwest Conference members LeTourneau and Concordia at 12:15 and 7 PM at the Robertson Center. 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 TikTok, and @tlubulldogs on Facebook).