AUSTIN, Texas - The Newman volleyball team saw its losing streak extend to four, dropping a three-set sweep to St. Edward's Thursday evening at the Recreation and Convocation Center in Austin, Texas. Haley Dotson led the Newman offense with nine kills despite hitting -.029 for the match.

-St Edward's (6-5, 3-0 Heartland) made its statement early in the first set, jumping out to a 4-0 lead behind a block and three kills. The Hilltoppers extended that lead to 8-1 after an attack error by Haley Dotson that forced Newman head coach Tessa Jones to spend her first timeout. Back-to-back kills from Katelyn Schmidtberger and Alysia Heideman following the timeout pulled Newman (1-8, 0-3 Heartland) back to within six, 9-3, but the Hilltoppers maintaned a lead of at least five for the remainder of the set en route to the 25-16 win.

-SEU repeated the trick in the second set, this time taking a 4-1 lead out of the gate. A Dotson kill gave Newman its first point of the set. Schmidtberger followed with a Kill to pull the Jets to within 5-2, but the Hilltoppers stole the momentum of the set with a 10-1 run, including a streak of seven-straight Hilltopper points. Newman was able to pull to within eight, 18-10, after a Marins kill, but it was too little, too late as SEU cruised to the 25-14 win.

-Things didn't get much better for Newman in the third set. The Hilltoppers broke a 1-1 tie with six-straight points to take a 7-1 lead and never looked back. Newman could never pull closer than seven points from the HIlltoppers in the set, as St. Edward's completed the sweep with a 25-11 third-set win.

-Sophomore Haley Dotson led Newman's offensive efforts with nine kills on 34 attack attempts. Chelsea Helena and Karol Marins each added seven kills in the match.

-Sophomore setter Gabby Loxterman finished with 15 assists in the match while Katelyn Schmidtberger added 10.

-Schmidtberger's 10-assist, 13-dig double double was her third-straight double-double outing.

-Kristen White led the charge for the Jets defensively, collecting 14 digs in the match.

-As a team, the Jets hit .096 (32 kills, 21 errors, 114 total attempts), while St. Edward's hit at a .392 clip (42 kills, four errors, 97 attempts).

With the loss, the Jets fall to 1-8 on the season, and 0-3 in Heartland Conference play. They will return to action Saturday, traveling to Dallas, Texas to take on Dallas Baptist. First serve is slated for 12 p.m. inside DBU's Burg Center.

--www.newmanjets.com--