DENTON, Texas (Sept. 3, 2016) – Texas Woman's University volleyball dropped two matches Saturday at the Hilton Garden Inn Classic, unable to duplicate their two victories yesterday by losing to Harding and Lubbock Christian at Kitty Magee Arena to conclude the two-day tournament at 2-2.
 
In the match against Harding (25-22, 22-25, 21-25, 17-25), Sara Oxford recorded a match-high 17 kills while Anna McGee contributed 15. Versus Lubbock Christian (15-25, 25-18, 11-25, 18-25), Kerstin Jenkins tallied a team-best 13 kills along with 17 digs and McGee added 11 kills.
 
A 4-0 Harding run early in set one on the afternoon pushed the Pioneers into a 9-5 deficit. A series of TWU kills brought the set to an 11-11 tie and the teams again found themselves knotted at 16-all before the Pioneers gained their first lead at 21-20 following kills by Oxford and McGee. A Harding attack hit the antenna, and an Oxford kill extended the margin to 23-20, but  a pair of kills pulled the Lady Bisons to within 23-22 before McGee registered two more kills for the TWU win.
 
In set two, kills by McGee and Jenkins gave the Pioneers a 9-6 edge, but a 5-0 Lady Bison run later on flipped the score to 16-14 in favor of the visitors. A McGee kill cut HU's advantage to 19-17, but a TWU service error and Harding kill quickly doubled the margin. A block by Haley Collins and Oxford crept the Pioneers to within 23-21, but two final Lady Bison kills ended the set.
 
Jenkins opened set three with a kill and Collins added another two for a 3-1 TWU lead. With the Pioneers leading 7-6 after a Courtney Noel kill, Harding pieced together four straight points to steal the lead. Oxford hit through HU's blockers on a slide to shrink the margin to one, but another 4-0 Lady Bison run handed TWU a 16-11 deficit.
 
Lubbock Christian attacked the Pioneers from the beginning and jumped to a 4-0 lead during the first set. A kill by Jenkins lessened the deficit at 12-9, but LCU put together a 6-1 run for an 18-10 lead. Two Lady Chap service aces and a pair of kills placed the game out of reach 23-11 and finally 25-15.
 
TWU reversed roles in set two by building an 8-4 lead and grew the margin to 16-10 on a kill by Collins that ricocheted off of the LCU blockers. Jenkins hit through a block for a 19-12 advantage, but the Lady Chaps closed to within 20-16 to force a Pioneer timeout. TWU closed on a 5-2 run to tie the match at one set each.
 
LCU rattled off five points to begin set three and held control throughout. The lead steadily grew to double digits at 18-8 following three consecutive Lady Chap kills. Back-to-back aces put LCU in front 21-8, as the visitors cruised to the set win.
 
A McGee kill on the outside through two blockers knotted game four at 5-5 before LCU put together a 7-2 run to go up 12-7. An Oxford block down from the middle lessened the margin to three before the Lady Chaps again increased their advantage and grew it to 21-13. The Pioneers were unable to make an impressive comeback to fall in four sets.
 
The Pioneers travel to Lakeland, Fla., to take part in Florida Southern's Terrace Hotel Classic next week. TWU opens Friday with matches against LIU-Post at 1:30 p.m. CST followed by host team FSC at 6 p.m.  before taking on UC-Colorado Springs at 11 a.m. and Rollins at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.