AUSTIN, Texas – The Texas Wesleyan University Volleyball team (3-4) dropped a straight set match to Huston-Tillotson University (5-1) in the finale of the HTU Labor Day Weekend Tournament on Sunday.
 
Today marks the first ever win for HTU against Texas Wesleyan. Texas Wesleyan led the all-time series 21-0 coming into the match.
 
The Lady Rams started strong and put up a valiant fight, but the home team prevailed in an old-school rematch of the Rams from back when the two team regularly met as Red River foes. Huston-Tillotson has improved dramatically since those days, its only loss of the 2019 season coming at the hands of reigning SAC champs Oklahoma City.
 
The first set was a tightly contested one, as the two teams were knotted things up 10 times throughout. The Lady Rams had an early four-point lead at 10-6 after a kill by Sydney Charlton. Another Charlton kill late in the set gave the team a 23-21 edge, but a couple of tough errors allowed the HTU Rams to take set one in 50 rallies.
 
The first set bled over into the second for the Lady Rams, as the team could not hit on all cylinders. The matter was made worse by stout blocking from host team. HTU pulled away to take the second, followed by a flurry of attacks in the third set the proved to be the catalyst for the match win.
 
Arianna Alvarado led the team with nine kills. Brenda Pargas tallied 21 assists and Madison Lopez tacked on 14 digs in the match.
 
The team will face Jarvis Christian in the home opener on Tuesday, September 3. That match set for 7:00 p.m. in the friendly confines of the Sid Richardson Center.