Texas Lutheran Victorious over LeTourneau in Five

GEORGETOWN, Texas -- The Texas Lutheran volleyball team, who began receiving votes in the AVCA Coaches Poll this week, beat LeTourneau Friday afternoon at the Robertson Center on the campus of Southwestern University in a five-set battle to kick off their three-game slate in the Southwestern Fall Invitational. The Bulldogs won 25-18, 16-25, 25-12, 15-25, 15-8.

Texas Lutheran got off to a strong start in the first set with an early 10-1 lead, including a 7-0 serving run from Brylie Nedd (Sealy/Sealy). TLU would coast through the remainder of the set to take the opening set 25-18. Texas Lutheran finished the first set with 15 kills led by four each from Ryann Ely (Montgomery/Concordia Lutheran) and Tanyse Moehrig (Spring Branch/Smithson Valley).

The Yellowjackets would fight back to take the second set before a dominant response from TLU in the third set that saw the Bulldogs take a 2-1 lead behind a 25-12 third set victory.

The Yellowjackets would force a fifth set with a 25-15 fourth set victory.

The Bulldogs came out strong in the final frame - scoring three straight to start the set before taking a 10-4 lead. A kill from senior Keriann Kallus (New Braunfels/New Braunfels) would seal the set and match for Texas Lutheran as they would win their second straight five-set match.

Kallus and Ryann Ely led the way offensively with 10 kills each. Tanyse Moehrig finished with nine kills while Brylie Nedd and Emily Mixon (Woodville/Woodville) would both tally eight. Faith Coldewey (Floresville/Floresville) led the Bulldogs with 24 digs - reaching the 100 dig mark through four matches. Shavonne Respondek (San Antonio/Madison) and Julia Chew (Cypress/Cy-Fair) both recorded double-doubles, as Respondek finished with 21 digs and 20 assists, while Chew put up 16 assists and 13 digs.

The Bulldogs continue Southwestern Fall Invitational play tonight in a 7 PM matchup with Concordia (TX). 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).