Volleyball Drops Tough Battle To Louisiana In Tourney Opener

EDINBURG, Texas – Texas Southern struck first but Louisiana responded back with three straight wins as they claimed a 3-1 decision in the opener of the UTRGV Invitational Friday afternoon.

Texas Southern opened set one with a vengeance as they battled back from a 10-2 deficit with a team effort led by Danielle Lilley and Thalia Cordero Moreno. Two kills by Lilley and a UL attack error gave TSU a 17-15 lead but UL tied it back after a pair of TSU attack errors. Erianna Murray gave TSU an 18-17 lead but UL scored three of the next four to lead 20-19. TSU would fight back as Cordero Moreno tied it at 20-all with a kill and moved ahead 21-20 after a service ace from Dallas Balanay-Flores. A UL error upped TSU’s lead to 22-20 but UL answered with two straight to knot the contest at 22-all. Amber Johnson came up with a big kill to move TSU ahead 23-22 followed by another UL error as TSU led 24-22. A TSU error saw UL draw to within 24-23 but Johnson closed out the set with a kill for a 25-23 win.

Set two was tied at 5-all until UL reeled off four straight to lead 9-5. A Jada Hall kill ended the drought but UL would break the game open behind eight attack errors from TSU as they won set two 25-10. Set three was all UL as they jumped out to a 12-2 lead and never looked back to win 25-11.

TSU was within four points (12-8) of UL in set four but UL went on an 8-0 run to create separation. TSU would score three straight to narrow the gap to 20-13 but that would be it as UL scored five straight to claim the match.

Lilley led TSU with 11 kills followed by eight from Cordero Moreno. Aeris Ramsey had 22 assists and 11 digs while Kaitlyn Scroggins chipped in with 13 digs.

TSU is back in action Saturday at 11 a.m. against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and 5 p.m. versus UTRGV.