SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Heading to Trinity University for another tough weekend of matches, the East Texas Baptist University volleyball team fell to both Southwestern University and Pomona-Pitzer on day one. ETBU now stands at 5-6 overall. ETBU started with a three-set loss to #3 Southwestern25-19, 25-17, and 25-18. Later, they fell to Pamona-Pitzer dropping sets one (25-21), three (25-12), and four (26-24) while taking set two (25-22). 
 
Game 1: #3 Southwestern 3, ETBU 0
 
ETBU did get an early lead on SU at 5-4 before the Pirates retook the momentum. ETBU was able to stay with them through the contest trailing by scores of 11-9 and 15-11. ETBU then manage to go on a 5-1 run to even it up at 16. But the Pirates would answer with a 5-1 run of their own that would be the difference as they would finish with a 25-19 set one win. 
 
Set two started off as another tight set with ETBU trailing 6-5 before SU went on a run. ETBU was unable to recover coming in as close as five points trailing 20-15 before a 5-2 run ended the set at 25-17. ETBU was able to lead early in set three at 7-4 and had their last lead at 10-9 before SU went on a 9-3 run that would eventually lead to a 25-18 win for the Pirates. 
 
Natalie Coburn had eight kills to lead ETBU while Elyse Shaw dished out 12 assists and Karina Lay had 10 digs. For SU, Kassi White had 16 kills to lead all players while leading everyone in assists was Megan Grimes with 36 and Brandi Compos had 16 digs. 
 
Game 2: Pomona-Pitzer 3, ETBU 1
 
Set one was tightly contested as ETBU and Pomona-Pitzer traded points early on. ETBU would then rally to take the lead at 14-13 before the score was tied at 18. However, Pomona-Pitzer's final run of 7-3 gave them a 25-21 set victory. After falling behind 5-2 in set two, ETBU would rally to even it up at 7. Then, ETBU would go on an 8-2 run to lead 15-9. Pomona-Pitzer would cut the lead down to two at 18-16, but ETBU would manage to secure the last seven points en route to a 25-22 win to even the match at one set each.
 
Set three saw Pomona-Pitzer take control early and never look back as they would start with a 7-1 run. The closest ETBU would get was within six points at 14-8 as they fell, 25-12. In set four, ETBU started off with a 5-1 lead. They would increase that lead to six points at 11-5, 20-14, and 21-15. But Pomona-Pitzer would rally to even the score at 22. ETBU would take their last lead at 23-22 before giving up two straight points. At match point, ETBU evened the score at 24, but once again, Pomona-Pitzer finished with two straight points picking up the win at 26-24. 
 
Abby Weaver led ETBU with 12 kills while Shaw again led ETBU with 17 assists and Paige Miller added 14 digs. Isabel Kelly and Julia Zwaal (double-double with 20 digs) each had 15 kills for Pomona-Pitzer while Jessica Finn had 25 assists. 
 
ETBU will continue with their last two games of the invitational tomorrow against Trinity University at 1:00 pm and Texas Lutheran at 5:00 pm.