'Roo Volleyball Falls Twice in Houston

HOUSTON, Texas - The Austin College volleyball team dropped both of its matches on Saturday to close out the First Responders Classic hosted by the University of St. Thomas, falling by 3-1 scores to both Southwestern University and Howard Payne. The 'Roos are now 6-4 overall on the year.

In the team's first match of the day against former Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference foe Southwestern, the 'Roos fell by scores of 23-25, 25-21, 19-25, 16-25, finishing the match hitting .214 as a team compared to a .316 clip for the Pirates. Selah Coleman paced the 'Roos offensively with 13 kills while adding 13 digs, and Rachel Sadler was equally effective both offensively and on defense with 11 kills and 15 digs.

Victoria Larson and Samantha Graham each had nine kills, while Madison manning led the 'Roos with 24 assists and Katie Riemer added 16 assists and nine digs. Laynie Kovacs led Austin College with 27 digs, and Madison Hartsfield had seven total blocks, while Coleman had four block assists.

Closing out the weekend at Howard Payne, the 'Roos dropped the first two sets by scores of 25-21 and 25-20 before bouncing back with a 25-17 third set win to send things to a fourth, but the Jackets took a 25-19 win to secure the match. Sadler and Coleman once again led the way on offense, with Sadler racking up 13 kills and Coleman adding 11, with Coleman also adding 12 digs and Sadler finishing with nine.

Larson had another strong match with eight kills, and Hartsfield added seven kills and four total blocks. Riemer paced the 'Roos with 19 assists, and Manning chipped in 17 assists and seven digs. Kovacs led the way defensively, finishing with 19 digs in the defeat.