STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Volleyball suffered first ever loss to the Thunderbirds on Saturday.
Southern Utah opened up the match by taking the first two sets, 26-24 and 25-21. The Purple and White claimed the third set, 25-23. The red and white took set four to close out the match and see their first conference win of the season. The Texans are 11-9 overall and sit 2-4 in WAC play after the loss to Southern Utah. SUU tallied 77 digs, 49 kills, 53 assists, nine blocks, and 11 aces. The T-Birds are 5-11 overall and are now 1-5 in conference play.
In the battle against the Thunderbirds, Tarleton State compiled 68 digs, 54 kills, 48 assists, eight blocks, and seven aces. Allison Bryant led the Texans in kills with 20 on the afternoon match. Rajini Fitzmaurice tallied 11 kills for the team and Grayson Schirpik saw seven. Emma Burke contributed two aces for the Purple and White while Fitzmaurice claimed an ace for Tarleton State and Kenzie Kellerman saw her first ace as a Texan.
Mary Kate Stasevich saw a new career high of five total blocks to lead the team. Fitzmaurice also saw a new season high in total blocks with four for the match and Burke added three total blocks. Megan Hodges led the Purple and White with 21 assists for the afternoon and Melina Maldonado Ortiz followed closely with 20 assists of her own. Libero Matti Theurer saw 24 digs to lead the team. Kellerman and Maldonado Ortiz tied with eight digs each.
The first set began with a kill from Southern Utah's Hana Makonova to put the T-Birds on the board first. Burke replied with a kill to see the Texan's first point. The Thunderbirds saw three consecutive kills with two from Natasha Obradovic and one fron Makonova to see Tarleton State down 4-2. The next two points for the Purple and White came from an error by Southern Utah and a kill from Bryant to close the gap to a one-point deficit. Charlotte Wilson laid down another kill for the T-Birds but two consecutive kills from Bryant tied the set at 5. Southern Utah saw another three-score run to gain the upper hand on the stanza. Bryant saw point six for Tarleton State with a kill followed by Kellerman's first ace of the season for a 8-7 score with the Texans down by one. Point nine for the Thunderbirds came from an error by the Purple and White but a kill from Madison Frank and Fitzmaurice saw the set tied again at the ninth point. Southern Utah held the lead until a service error on the T-Birds tipped the score in favor of the Texans and a kill from Schirpik saw Tarleton State up by two. Southern Utah saw yet another three-score run to regain the lead by one point at 22-21. Burke tied the set with a kill but Molly McDermott tied saw the next point for the Thunderbirds. As Southern Utah tallied each point, the Purple and White put up the next point to continue tying the set. The final point for Tarleton State came from Breanna McDonough with a kill but two errors from the Texans sealed the deal for the T-Birds at 26-24.
A service ace from Megan Hodges put the first point up for the Purple and White. From there, the next four points belonged to Southern Utah with two kills, a service ace and a block from Teniyah Leuluai and Makonova to see the stanza at 4-1 in favor of the red and white. Two errors from the Thunderbirds and a kill from Bryant closed the gap to see the Purple and White down by one. Southern Utah claimed the next two points. A service error from the Thunderbirds and a kill from Bryant saw Tarleton State down by one again. Another three-run score from Southern Utah saw the red and white up 10-6. After a pair of kills from the T-Birds, the Purple and White saw three consecutive points and saw the Texans trailing by one. For the remainder of the frame, the largest deficit was three points at 23-20. A kill from Fitzmaurice saw the last point of the stanza for Tarleton State. Back-to-back kills from Southern Utah closed out set two at 25-21.
An error from the Thunderbirds put the Texans up first. A kill from Obradovic saw the red and white's first point. McDonough tallied another point for the Purple and White. The T-Birds claimed the next four points to take the lead, 5-2. Bryant saw a kill for the third point and a solid block from Stasevich and Fitzmaurice tallied two more points for the Texans. Wilson laid down a kill for Southern Utah's sixth point, but a three-score run from the Purple and White saw Tarleton State ahead by one. The next two points came from the red and white but the Texans saw four consecutive points to take the lead by three. The Purple and White remained in thre lead throughout the duration of the stanza with several ties before McDermott put down the final kill of the set for the Thunderbirds. A kill from Bryant and another block from Stasevich claimed the set for the Texans, 25-23.
The fourth and final set saw Southern Utah with two on the board before a kill from Fitzmaurice tallied a point for the Purple and White. An error from Tarleton State followed by an error from the T-Birds and an ace from Burke tied the set at the third point. As each team went point for point, Burke laid down another kill to see the red and white up by one at 11-10. A three-score run from the Thunderbirds put the Purple and White down by four. Tarleton State matched the energy in Wisdom Gym with a four-score run to tie the set at 14-14. Each team tallied two but five consecutive points from Southern Utah saw the Thunderbirds up 21-16. The Texans battled back with a couple of blocks from Stasevich and Fitzmaurice and a kill from Fitzmaurice to close the gap to a three-point deficit. The T-Birds saw three more to find the 24th point on the board. Two errors from the red and white added the final points for the Purple and White but a kill from Obradovic gave the Thunderbirds their first conference victory of the season, 25-21.
The Texans will be back in action on the road with a battle against Stephen F. Austin on Oct. 6 at 6 p.m. The Purple and White will continue their time on the road with a match against UT Arlington on Oct. 14 at 12 p.m.
