The Ouachita Baptist volleyball team opened its season Friday afternoon by falling twice, losing to Florida Tech, 3-0, and West Alabama, 3-0, during the opening day of the University of West Florida Comfort Inn-vitational Volleyball Tournament.
In the opening match against Florida Tech, the Lady Tigers fell 25-13, 25-19 and 25-19
Ouachita Baptist (0-2) trailed 16-12 after an Angie Lassman service error, but couldn’t rally in falling 25-13 in the first game.
In the second game, the Lady Tigers fell behind 18-11 after a service error by Raichel Settle. The Panthers seemed poised to put the second game away by going on 5-3 run to grab a 23-14 advantage. Back came Ouachita Baptist as Lauren Stuart and Ryleigh Lay combined for three points to cut the margin to 23-17. However, Florida Tech won the game after a service error by Libby Merritt.
Florida Tech opened the third game with a pair of points and forced Ouachita Baptist to play from behind. The Lady Tigers cut a 6-2 deficit to 8-5 after a kill from Lindsey Pry off an assist from Lexie Hegi. Ouachita Baptist continued to trim away at the Panther lead as the Lady Tigers took advantage of a service error to cut the margin to 19-17. That would be as close as Ouachita Baptist would get.
Ouachita Baptist finished with 28 kills, led by Kaitlyn Mitcham with seven. Stuart paced the Lady Tigers with 14 assists, while also recording a pair of service aces. Hegi added two service aces as well. Kristyn Howk and Stuart finished with nine and eight digs, respectively. Meredith Henry chipped in with three blocks.
In the second match, West Alabama was too much for Ouachita Baptist, beating the Lady Tigers, 25-21, 25-20 and 25-21.
Henry paced Ouachita Baptist with 11 kills and a pair of service aces. Hegi finished with seven assists as the Lady Tigers had 29 kills and 27 assists. Howk finished with 10 digs, while Merritt chipped in with four blocks.
Ouachita Baptist continues tournament play at 11 a.m., Saturday, Aug. 30 against St. Joseph’s and finish play against UNC-Pembroke at 4 p.m.
