TYLER, Texas – On the final day of their final ASC Crossover of the season, the East Texas Baptist University volleyball team fell 25-18, 25-22, and 25-23 to the top team in the ASC West Division in the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor. ETBU now holds a 12-12 record overall and are 6-7 in the ASC Conference.
 
For the game, Allison Sevening led the way with 11 kills while Elyse Shaw dished out 22 assists and collected 14 digs to finish with a double-double. Julia De Los Santos collected 17 digs to lead ETBU in that category while Alexis Contos had three blocks. Leading UMHB in kills was Sarah Paolini with 15 while Cory Jo Martin put together 36 assists. Jenna Gillean was the top digger in the game with 22.
 
Kills by Miller and Sevening started ETBU to a 2-0 lead in set one before UMHB would even the score with a 4-2 run. Cassidy Zellmer and Natalie Coburn would put ETBU up by two at 6-4, which the margin would be kept until the Tigers led 11-9. That was when UMHB began a 9-2 run to put themselves up 18-13. While ETBU would get as close as 18-15, the Crusaders would finish off the set by taking seven of the final ten serves as they won 25-18.
 
Falling behind early after giving up the first point in set two, UMHB would take a 7-1 run to lead by five at 7-2. But two attack errors by the Crusaders along with kills from Sevening and De Los Santos brought the Tigers within 7-6. The rest of the set saw a recurring pattern with UMHB extending their lead while ETBU would make it a set by getting it close. Unfortunately, ETBU was never able to overtake UMHB in this set as they would as close as two points on two different occasions during the midway point. But at one point late in the set, the Tigers would cut a 23-20 deficit to 23-22. That would be as close as they would get to as UMHB secured the set two win 25-22.
 
With Shaw serving to start set three, ETBU struck for three straight points as Shaw would get a service ace while Lizbeth Flores added a kill. UMHB would answer with four straight points to lead 4-3 before the teams went back-and-forth in scoring. Tied at 11, UMHB would string together a 6-2 run to go up by four at 17-13. This lead would extend to 20-15 before the Tigers would manage to cut the lead to three at 21-18 as Byas and Coburn would apply kills in that span. UMHB answered with three points to go within match point. Miller would attempt to lead a comeback as she picked up two service aces while kills from Sevening and Sydney Lopez brought the Tigers to within one at 24-23. Yet, the comeback came too late as UMHB picked up the match point for the 25-23 win to complete the sweep.
 
ETBU will head back to Tyler this Tuesday to take on the University of Texas Tyler at 7:00 PM.