WICHITA – The Newman volleyball team lost a tight five-set match with St. Edward's on Thursday (Sept. 18) at Fugate Gymnasium. The Hilltoppers remained perfect, going to 6-0 on the season, and the Lady Jets dropped to 4-6.
 
After falling behind early in the first set, the Jets rallied to win set one, 25-21. NU fell behind, 11-5, but then went on a 13-2 run to take an 18-13 advantage on an Alexis Roecker kill. Five of the next six points went in SEU's favor to cut the lead to one at 19-18. Two errors by SEU and a service ace from Roecker put the Lady Jets in front, 22-19. With the score at 22-21, NU scored the final three points with Alexus Litts putting down a kill for the 25-21 score.
 
In the second set, SEU pulled out to a 9-5 lead. The Lady Jets came back to tie the score at 13-13. After a SEU point, NU got four of the next five points to go up 17-15 and force the Hilltoppers to take a timeout. The Lady Jets went up 21-18 on a Tori Provencio ace. From there SEU scored four of the next five points to tie the score at 22-22. The Hilltoppers were aided by three NU errors. A Gonzalez kill put NU in front, 23-22, however, SEU picked up three consecutive to win 25-23 and tie the match at 1-1.
 
SEU went ahead in the match, 2-1, with a 25-21 win in the third set. With the set close most of the way, SEU took control of the set with a 5-0 run. The score was knotted at 18-18 then SEU got points on two aces, a block and a kill along with one NU mistake, going up 23-18. The Hilltoppers won 25-21 on a kill by Hannah Rauch.
 
Determined to force a fifth set, NU started strong in the fourth, scoring the first four points. With the Lady Jets still up four at 13-9, SEU got the lead after a 5-0 run. NU committed three attack errors in the run. After a Shelby Zoglman kill tied the score at 14-14, SEU put together a 4-1 run to regain the lead at 18-15. It was all NU from there in the set as the Lady Jets ended on a 10-3 run. Gonzalez, Litts and Gaylynn Jones all tallied kills in the run. Jarin Braithwait gave NU set point at 24-21 and an SEU attack error allowed the Lady Jets to win 25-21.
 
In the fifth set, SEU won 15-11. With the score tied at 4-4, two straight Hilltopper points put them up 6-4. After trading points for a 7-6 SEU lead, the Hilltoppers tallied the next three points to pull out to a 10-6 lead and force NU to take a timeout. Out of the timeout, NU scored two points for a 10-8 score. With SEU still up by two at 11-9, the Hilltoppers reeled off two straight points for a 13-9 advantage. Kills by Zoglman and Jones kept NU in it; however, Rauch put the match away with a kill at 14-11 to lift SEU to the 15-11 set win and the 3-2 match win.
 
Gonzalez finished with a match-high 16 kills to tie with SEU's Rauch. Five Lady Jets hit double digit kills: Jones, Braithwait, Zoglman and Litts, who saw action for the first time this season. Litts had a double-double as she added 25 assists. Also with double-doubles was Jones with 11 kills and 17 digs and Lexi Kuharich with 31 assists, a match-high, and 17 digs.
 
The Lady Jets tallied 21 more kills than SEU, holding a 72-51 advantage; however, NU committed 42 errors to 16 from the Hilltoppers. SEU hit .191, and NU hit .143.
 
NU takes to the road for two straight matches. Next Thursday (Sept. 25) the Lady Jets take on Texas A&M International at 7 p.m. in Laredo, Texas.