MARSHALL, Texas – Closing out American Southwest Conference East Division play in dominant fashion, the East Texas Baptist University volleyball team bounced the Belhaven University Blazers, 3-1, at Ornelas Gym. ETBU is now 14-12 overall and 7-7 in the ASC East.

Allie Fennell led the offensive attack with 12 kills while Kayla Rainey collected 11 kills on the night. Bailey Byas ended her last match in Ornelas Gymn on a high note finishing with 10 kills. Carley Boswell rounded out the attack effort with nine kills. Meredith Augsburger dished out 19 assists to pace the offense, while Cassidy Zellmer added 17 helpers of her own. Defensively, Gabrielle Guy manned the backrow, with 19 digs as Savannah Stanley had 15 digs. As a team, ETBU tallied 57 kills and 44 assists. Vivien Marquez led the Blazers and all players, with 12 kills on the night.

 A kill by Byas off of a Stanley assist gave ETBU its first lead (1-0) in the opening set. A kill by Izabella Erickson off the Kristin Fogan set up squared the set at 1-1 on the next play. Byas responded with another kill to give the Tigers the 2-1 advantage. BU would square the set at 2-2 but back-to-back kills by Rainey pushed the Tigers to a 4-2 lead. An attack error by ETBU would tie the set once again (7-7), until an 8-0 spurt sparked by a Boswell kill, broke the seal and gave the Tigers the 15-7 lead. BU would fight to cut the deficit to five (23-18) in the waning moments of the first set, but the Tigers used a service error by Fogan to increase the score to 25-18, moving on to set two.

Fennell opened set two with a kill to give ETBU the early 1-0 advantage. Chelsea Creighton responded with a kill to tie the match, but Fennell and Rainey both recorded kills to increase the lead to 3-1 over the next two plays. The set was squared at 9-9, when the Blazers would embark on a 5-0 spurt to take the lead at, 14-9. In spite of the Tigers narrowing the deficit to one (16-15) at the midway point of the set, BU would go on to close out the second frame outscoring ETBU 9-6, claiming set two 25-21.  

The third set saw both clubs battle back and forth (10-9) until the Tigers outscored the Blazers 15-9 down the stretch, coming away with the 25-18 set three win and the 2-1 lead in the match. The fourth and deciding set was ended with a kill by Rainey, giving ETBU the 25-17 set win and the 3-1 overall edge in the match.

ETBU will close out the regular season on Saturday, Nov. 2^nd with a road trip to San Antonio, Texas. The Tigers will compete in the Trinity Tournament, starting with a match against Schreiner University at 11 a.m.