JACKSON, Miss. –  Taking on regional competition on the final day of the Millsaps/Belhaven Classic, the East Texas Baptist University volleyball team fell to Millsaps College and Birmingham Southern College. Both matches ended in 3-1 losses and as ETBU is now 6-3 overall on the season.  

The first match would see the Tigers drop three straight sets (21-25, 23-25, 17-25) after winning the first set 25-16. Allie Fennell led ETBU with 16 kills. Cassidy Zellmer collected a double-double with 22 assists and 16 digs while Julia De Los Santos finished with a game-high 25 digs.

Game 1: MC 3, ETBU 1
ETBU would begin the first set with a Zellmer kill igniting a 7-3 lead before MC called a timeout. The Majors brought the game to 10-7 before ETBU ran off five straight points to lead 15-7. An 8-4 run by MC brought the set to 19-15 before ETBU had major kills by Harris and Fennell for a 21-15 lead. The Tigers then ran off with four of the final five points to take the first set 25-16.

Like the first set, the Tigers began the second set with momentum as they tallied seven of nine points to grab the lead. But MC answered with a 8-2 run of their own to grab the 10-9 lead. Over the next twenty-three serves, neither side would grab control of the set as it was 25-21. But the majors would steal the second set with four straight points to win 25-21.

Both teams would put three straight points to begin the third set before trading points all the way until it was 15-15. But then, the Majors collected two kills to lead 17-15. A Byas kill cut it to 17-16 before two MC points made it 19-16. The Tigers retook the lead at 20-19 before the exchanging of points continued with Fennell and Flores posting set-tying kills to make it 23-23. Ultimately, MC sealed the set three win at 25-23 with two straight points.

Set four would play to MC's edge as they stormed out to a 9-2 lead. The Tigers would manage to get the game as close as 9-5, but they were unable to stop the Majors, who proceeded to escalate the cushion to 21-10 with a 12-5 run. ETBU would put up small rallies to trail by seven at 22-15 and 24-17 before the Majors collected the final point for the win.

ETBU would go on to drop the day's final match to Birmingham-Southern College, 3-1, to end the Classic.

ETBU returns to Ornelas Gymnasium for an American Southwest Conference rivalry match against LeTourneau University on Tuesday, Sept. 10^th, at 6:00 p.m.