MARSHALL, Texas – Playing in their first two home matches of the season, the East Texas Baptist University volleyball team came away with a split winning their final match of the night over Centenary College, 3-0. ETBU is now 2-4 on the year.

ETBU fell in the first match in three sets to Wiley College, 25-16, 25-20, 28-26.. Bailey Byas led ETBU with eight kills while Elyse Shaw had 16 assists and Julia De Los Santos collected 15 digs. For WC, Larissa Francisco had 11 kills to lead the team. Alexia Souza was the top assist-maker for both teams with 31 while Miyah Keller had 16 kills to lead the team.

Rebounding in the second match, ETBU swept Centenary College in three straight sets, 25-23, 25-17, 25-19. Sydney Lopez led the way with a double-double collecting a career high with 20 kills adding 17 digs. Byas added 11 kills while Shaw had a double-double with 26 assists and 11 digs. De Los Santos led all Tigers with 19 digs. Meanwhile, CC had 10 kills from Shyann Pisano and Elizabeth Epley while Rachel Demerjian had a double-double with 33 assists and 11 digs.

Game 1: WC 3, ETBU 0
After scoring the first point, ETBU fell behind Wiley, 7-1, as the Wildcats scored seven straight points.  ETBU then fell behind 11-3 before four straight points cut the deficit to 11-7. But again, WC took control as they went on a 9-4 run to push the lead to 20-11. ETBU would then force a 5-1 run to cut the lead to 21-15 before the Wildcats finished with a four of the final five points to win 25-16.

In set two, ETBU trailed 2-0 before scoring five of the next six points to lead 5-3. The game was then tied at 6-6 before WC would make a 4-1 run to lead 10-7. Over the remainder of set two, a pattern continued to occur as six times, ETBU would either tie or cut the lead to one. But each time, WC took control and extended the lead. At 19-18, ETBU would then see WC run off with a 6-2 surge to win the second set 25-20.

ETBU started the third set with a 3-1 lead only to see WC counter for a 4-3 lead. The Tigers ran off five straight points en route to a 7-2 run and a for a four-point lead, 10-6. WC then took the lead, 15-12, but ETBU rallied back with three straight points and both teams then scored four points each to tie a 19. Two more points by the Tigers made the score 21-19 before a timeout called by WC. Then, a 5-1 run by WC made it 24-22 as ETBU would tie the game and then exchange points to make it 26-26. WC would get the final two points for the match victory.

Game 2: ETBU 3, CC 0
ETBU started set one with three of the first four points before rolling to a 6-3 lead. After cutting the margin to 6-5, CC then overcame an 8-6 ETBU lead with four straight points to go up 10-8. The lead then moved to 13-10 before ETBU slowly made their way back to tie it 14-14. ETBU then took a 5-2 run to go up 19-16 only to have CC rally for four straight points making it, 20-19. With the score tied at 21, CC would take a one-point lead only for ETBU to tie the score on the next possession. This went on for six serves before ETBU secured the lead for good with two points and a 25-23 win.

CC started set two with two points to lead early only to have ETBU score six straight points grabbing a 6-2 lead. The Ladies then went on a 6-1 run making it 8-7. But then, the turning point came when ETBU stormed out to a 12-2 run, including eight straight points to push their lead to 19-10. The closest CC would get was seven points on five different occasions before ETBU tallied the final few points for the 25-17 win and 2-0 advantage in the match.
The momentum for the Tigers carried into the third set as ETBU raced out to a 7-1 lead. While they would never relinquish the lead, ETBU did allow CC to come within two points at 13-11 following a 10-6 run. ETBU would escalate their lead to 19-13. But a 4-1 run would get the Ladies to within 20-17. ETBU would finish the game with a 5-2 run to win 25-19.

ETBU's next event is the Austin College Crossover Tournament, which will see ETBU play in four matches. ETBU will play Linfield College (12:00 PM) and Howard Payne University (6:00 PM) on Friday and Austin College (12:00 PM) and Sul Ross State University (2:00 PM) on Saturday.