TLU Volleyball Defeats Southwestern to Complete Undefeated Home Season

SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran Volleyball beat Southwestern 25-18, 24-26, 25-22, 25-18, to clinch their first undefeated season at Memorial Gymnasium since 2004 on Tuesday.

The Bulldogs conclude their home slate 6-0 for the sixth undefeated home season in program history.

The match marked the final home regular season match for seniors Tanyse Moehrig (Spring Branch/Smithson Valley), Emily Mixon (Woodville/Woodville), and Keriann Kallus (New Braunfels/New Braunfels).

Moehrig had 14 kills and eight digs in the match. Brylie Nedd (Sealy/Sealy) matched Moehrig with a match-high 14 kills and added four blocks (two solo). Keriann Kallus also had a night with nine kills, seven digs, four blocks (one solo), and a service ace.

Victoria Powell (Richmond/Fulshear) finished with six kills and joined Kallus and Nedd with four blocks (one solo).

Shavonne Respondek (San Antonio/Madison) had 27 assists, 21 digs, four kills, three kills and one ace. The double-double marks her 23rd double-double in 25 matches this season. Faith Coldewey (Floresville/Floresville) led the Bulldogs with 27 digs to go with three assists and two aces. Freshman Richelle Guerra (Brownsville/Rivera Early College) matched her career-high with 20 digs.

The Bulldogs - who entered Tuesday third in the nation in total digs and and leading the country in digs per set - finished with 107 digs in total with three players eclipsing 20 digs.

The first set was back-and-forth to start featuring seven ties early. Following a Southwestern timeout, TLU would go on an 8-4 run to take a 22-15 lead to force a second Pirates timeout. The Bulldogs would take the opening set 25-18 led by seniors Moehrig and Kallus who had four kills each.

The Pirates, who host the 2023 SCAC Volleyball Tournament and were fighting for their SCAC Tournament bid, tied the match up with a 26-24 win in the second set. Texas Lutheran led 20-15 before the Pirates would battle back to tie the set 24-all before taking the set 26-24.

Texas Lutheran held off another Southwestern rally in the third set to win it 25-22, using a 4-0 run to finish the set. The Bulldogs got four kills from Moehrig and Nedd in the set, including three kills from Moehrig for three of the final four points to close the set.

The fourth set saw the Bulldogs in complete control - never looking back after a 6-6 tie early in the set. A 10-3 run from Texas Lutheran would force a Southwestern timeout as the Bulldogs stretched out to a 16-9 lead. The Pirates would not go down easy but TLU would put the match away, 25-18, closed out by senior Keriann Kallus - who also celebrated her birthday on Tuesday. Kallus, Moehrig and Nedd all had three kills in the final set.

Following the match, Texas Lutheran recognized its three seniors in senior day festivities celebrating their contributions to the TLU Volleyball program.

The Bulldogs will travel to Sherman, Texas, for their final SCAC Divisional weekend starting with a match against Centenary College at 1:15 PM on Saturday, Oct. 28. 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).