COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – Kicking off their 2018 campaign in competitive fashion, the East Texas Baptist University volleyball team took down North Central College before falling to the University of St.Thomas in three sets. ETBU is now 1-1 to start the season and will face-off with Nebraska Wesleyan University and Colorado College on Saturday, Sept. 1.

Sydney Lopez  turned in a stellar performance in the opening match, recording 16 kills and nine digs to lead the way, while Bailey Byas chipped in 11 kills. Elyse Shaw paced the offense with 18 assists and Cassidy Zellmer chipped in 12 in her ETBU debut. Freshman Julia De Los Santos and Paige Miller collected 15 and 11 digs respectively, and Annie Harris and Carley Boswell helped man the defensive effort with six blocks a piece.

In the first match of the day, ETBU found themselves in a tight contest.  NCC scored the first two points on a service ace and a kill (2-0). The Tigers would eventually get on the board with a kill by Lopez to make the score 2-1. Natalie Coburn responded with a kill of her own to knot the game at 2-2.

Both teams battled back and forth after another kill by Lopez tied the game at 10-10. A pair of blocks by Lizeth Flores and Boswell capped off a run of three straight points to put ETBU on top 13-10. In spite of a valiant effort down the stretch by NCC, the Tigers won the first match, 25-23.

The Cardinals responded by taking set two by a score of 25-17. ETBU answered with back-to-back wins, including winning the fourth set by a convincing 15 points (25-10).

The second match proved to be a daunting task for ETBU, as UST claimed the first two sets by scores of 25-20 and 25-14. The Tommies carried that momentum into the third set, going on top 18-9 in the waning moments. But the Tigers refused to lay down with Boswell and Byas sparking an 8-4 spurt to cut the lead to five (22-17).

 An attack error by UST tied the ballgame at 23-23, until the Tommies used back-to-back kills to close out the set and complete the 3-0 sweep.
Boswell led the attack with nine kills, while Shaw and Meredith Augsburger combined for 23 assists. De Los Santos and Lopez led the defensive effort with 11 and nine digs, respectively.

ETBU will take on Nebraska Wesleyan University and Colorado College on Saturday, Sept. 1. The first match is set to tip-off at 10:00 a.m.