KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Ouachita Baptist University Volleyball team picked up its first win of the year, defeating the Colorado State-Pueblo ThunderWolves 3-2 to close out the A&M-Kingsville Invitational after dropping the first match of the day to the Tiffin Dragons 3-0.
In the loss to Tiffin, Ouachita struggled to find a rhythm early on. The Dragons jumped out to an early lead and held onto it to win the first set 25-17. The second set saw Ouachita take the early lead. The Tigers and Dragons then traded points before Tiffin took a five-point lead. Ouachita responded with a 6-0 run to retake the lead, but despite keeping it close, Tiffin held on to win 25-23 in set two. The third set went similarly to the first with the Dragons taking a lead and holding onto it to win the set 25-18 and the match 3-0.
Leah Gardner led the Tigers with 10 kills. Emily Hanson led the assists column with 25 and
Avery Jauz recorded 13 digs to lead the defense.
The second match of the day saw the Tigers find their rhythm and pull off a five-set comeback victory over the ThunderWolves of Colorado State University at Pueblo.
The first set saw the Tigers and ThunderWolves trade the first eight points back and forth to stay tied at 4-4. After Pueblo took an 11-10 lead, the Tigers put together a small 3-0 run to take the lead back at 13-10. Ouachita would not trail for the remainder of the first set, winning 25-23.
Sets two and three went in favor of the ThunderWolves by the scores of 25-18 and 25-19 respectfully, with CSU-Pueblo taking a 2-1 lead in the match.
In the fourth set, both teams traded small runs to start, but CSU-Pueblo was able to push its lead out to seven points with a score of 19-12. Then the Tigers came alive, going on a 7-0 tear that included kills from
Emily Adams and
EJ Day to tie the set at 19-19. The ThunderWolves took the lead back and pushed it to 22-19, but a 4-0 run with three aces in a row from
Kellen Church gave Ouachita its first lead of the set. The Tigers held on to that lead to win the set 26-24 and tie the match at 2-2.
The deciding fifth set was all Ouachita from the start. Pueblo scored the opening point, but Ouachita was quick to take the lead and hold onto it. The Tigers would not allow more than two points in a row for CSU-Pueblo, keeping the ThunderWolves from finding any rhythm. Ouachita did not trail in the set after tying it at 1-1 and won the fifth set by a score of 15-9 to complete the comeback and win its first match of the season 3-2.
Riley Braziel recorded her second double-double of the season with 10 kills and 18 digs in the match.
Emily Adams tied with Braziel with 10 kills.
Courtney Hanson also earned her second double-double of 2023 by handing out 37 assists and grabbing 14 digs on defense. Hanson earned All-Tournament Team honors for her perfomances in all four matches.
Avery Jauz led the Tigers in digs with 20.
Kellen Church and Braziel tied for the team lead in aces with three each.
The Tigers will look to keep the success going next week as they head back to Texas to take part in the Denton Volleyfest. Ouachita will open the invitational against the Owls of Texas Woman's University on Thursday, September 7 at 7:30 p.m.
