NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Texans fall in a hard-fought match against the undefeated conference leaders. 
 
The Ladyjacks took all three sets with a 25-18 first frame, 25-23 in set two and a third and final set of 25-18.  Tarleton State is now 11-10 overall and 2-5 in WAC play after the loss to SFA. The Jacks tallied 59 digs, 48 kills, 44 assists, six blocks, and four aces. Stephen F. Austin is 18-3 overall and remains undefeated in conference play with a 7-0 record. 
 
In the battle against the Ladyjacks, the Texans compiled 48 digs, 38 kills, 36 assists, two blocks, and one ace. Rajini Fitzmaurice led Tarleton State with 10 kills. Grayson Schirpik followed closely in second with nine kills and Allison Bryant tallied eight kills on the match. Melina Maldonado Ortiz claimed the only ace for the Texans. Emma Burke, Breanna McDonough and Schirpik each saw a block to tie for first. 
 
Megan Hodges led the team with 18 assists for the evening. Maldonado Ortiz saw 14 assists on the night to rank second in assists. Matti Theurer led Tarleton State in digs with 15 and Kenzie Kellerman racked up 10 of her own to set her new season high. Fitzmaurice contributed seven digs for the Texans. 
 
The Texans came out hot claiming the first two points of the stanza with kills from Burke and Fitzmaurice. The Ladyjacks saw a four-score run to take the lead by two. With a 5-7 score, Stephen F. Austin saw four more consecutive points to see Tarleton State down by five. A kill from Maldonado Ortiz and a pair of errors from the Jacks tallied three points for the visitors for an 8-11 score. Three kills, a service ace and a couple of errors from the Texans saw the Ladyjacks with a five-point lead at 12-17. The final six points of the stanza came from kills by Bryant, Frank, Schirpik and Fitzmaurice. A block from Izabella Ortiz and kills from SFA's Tanishua Joseph, Ariana Pagan, and Alleah Dallas paired with a few errors from Tarleton State sealed the deal for the Ladyjacks to close out set one, 25-18.
 
The second set saw the Texans first on the board with a kill from Burke. A service error from Tarleton State and a kill from Ielan Bradley put the Jacks up by one. An error from Stephen F. Austin saw the set tied until a kill from Jayden Flynn tipped the scale in favor of the Jacks. McDonough claimed another point for the Texans with a kill to tie the set at 3. Maldonado Ortiz saw an ace to put Tarleton State in the lead by one. Three consecutive points from SFA saw the visiting team down by two at 4-6. Three kills from Schirpik and another from Fitzmaurice saw the Texans down by one when McDonough laid down back-to-back kills to regain the lead for Tarleton State. Kills from Bradley and Dallas and an ace from Pagan gave the Ladyjacks a two-point lead at 10-12. An error from the Texans tallied another point for the Jacks but a pair of kills from Bryant closed the gap to a one-point deficit. SFA's Camryn Hill laid down another kill for the Jacks. A pair of kills from Fitzmaurice, a kill from Bryant and an error from Stephen F. Austin gave the visiting team the next four points as the board saw a 16-14 score in favor of the Texans. A couple of errors from Tarleton State and several kills from the Ladyjacks regained the lead for the home team at 17-19. Two back-to-back errors from SFA and a solid defense from the Texans saw Tarleton State ahead by one. The frame tied at 21-21 until an error from the Jacks put the visitors up by one. A service error from the Texans and a kill from Ortiz saw SFA up, 23-22. The set tied at point 23 after a service error from Stephen F. Austin. Two straight kills from Bradley and Hill closed out a nail biting second stanza with the Ladyjacks on top, 25-23. 
 
The Jacks saw kills from Dallas and Bradley and an error from Tarleton State to claim the first three points of the third set. An error from SFA tallied the first point for the Texans but another kill from Bradley kept the visitors at a 3-point deficit. McDonough put up the second point for Tarleton State. The Ladyjacks defense claimed the next point and a kill from Joseph saw the Texans down by four. A service error from SFA tacked on another point for Tarleton but back-to-back errors from the Texans saw the Jacks up by five at 3-8. Frank and Fitzmaurice laid down kills from Tarleton State but for each kill from the visiting team, Stephen F. Austin laid down kills of their own. As errors from the home team and kills from the Texans began to close the gap, Tarleton saw their closest score for the remainder of the game at a two-point deficit, 13-15. Four more consecutive kills from SFA kept the Texans at arm's length. The final points for Tarleton State came from a service error from the Jacks, two kills from Schirpik, and a couple from Fitzmaurice. Three final kills from Stephen F. Austin and several errors from the Texans saw a third set end 25-18 for the Ladyjacks. 
 
Tarleton Volleyball will continue conference play as they travel to Arlington to take on the Mavericks. The match against UT Arlington will take place on Saturday at 12 p.m. and can be found on ESPN+.