The Tigers went 3-1 last weekend when they competed in Shreveport, La. at in the Southern Collegiate Athletic (SCAC) Conference divisional.
They opened the weekend last Saturday, Sept. 26, splitting their first two matches against Colorado College and the University of Dallas.
Their seven-game winning streak was broken in a loss to No. 11 Colorado College. The final score was 25-22, 15-25, 25-21, 20-25, 14-16.
“Colorado College did not earn that win, we gave it away. If you looked at the box score, you’d think there was no way Colorado College won the match; we hit .237, Colorado College hit .148,” said head coach Julie Jenkins. “The bottom line is that we absolutely gave it away; we beat ourselves.
Junior defensive specialist Shannon Courtney led the team in digs with 24. Sophomore setter Erika Edrington was the match assist leader, with 25 assists and 11 digs.Senior outside hitter/middle blocker Maggie Emodi recorded a double in the match, with 14 kills, 14 digs and a match-leading five blocks.
“Colorado was kind of a wake-up call for us,” Emodi said. “We realized that not everything will come easy and no matter how talented we are, we still need to work hard for every point.”
Later that day, they took on Dallas and came back strong after dropping the first two sets to win 22-25, 19-25, 25-23, 25-12, 15-5.
Emodi exploded with 19 kills and 23 digs. She also had a hitting percentage of .319 with 47 total attacks and seven blocked shots.
“This is a match where our team earned their win,” Jenkins said “They made a real statement in the fifth game winning 15-5.”
Sunday they played the host school””Centenary College””and swept them 25-20, 25-12, 25-22.
Edrington posted 18 assists in the match along with six digs. Senior outside hitter Layne Hubbard fired in five service aces in two sets worth of work. First-year outside hitter Kirby Smith led the team in kills with seven in the match.
The Tigers then finished off the weekend with a close five-set win against Austin College.
After going up 2-0 early, they dropped the next two sets and had to battle in the fifth to come away with the win 25-13, 25-13, 24-26, 22-25, 15-12.
Hubbard hit .302 against Austin College with 17 kills, 43 total attacks and 15 digs to finish with a double-double in the match. Emodi also hit a double-double with 10 kills and 15 digs.
“We were pleased to have won three of the games this weekend, but we were pretty disappointed by our loss,” said senior middle blocker Erin Cusenbary. “I think it just speaks to the depth and talent in our conference.”
The Tigers played again on Oct. 2, at home, against Our Lady of the Lake University (Texas). After winning the two sets 25-15 and 25-22 respectively, they lost the third set 22-25, and then won the fourth set 32-30 for the match victory.
The Tigers are tied for first in the conference with Southwestern and Colorado College with a record of 6-1. The Tigers have won 10 of their last 11 matches with their only loss coming against Colorado College.
The Tigers are now ranked No. 14 in the AVCA poll and do not have any games this weekend. Their next match will be at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 8, when they will travel to Austin to play Concordia University.
