DENTON, Texas – The East Central University volleyball team took on Texas Woman's University in a non-conference matchup, ultimately falling in three straight sets, 14-25, 26-28, 13-25, on the road on Tuesday.
 
The Pioneers snapped the Tigers' five-game winning streak as ECU could not find their rhythm.
 
TWU established an early lead in the first set and maintained control, finishing with a decisive 25-14 win.
 
In the second set, ECU bounced back, surging ahead with a 13-5 lead. However, the Pioneers responded with their own scoring run, leveling the score at 14-all. It was a back-and-forth battle from there, with the score tying seven times. Despite ECU's efforts, though, TWU edged out a hard-fought 28-26 set two victory, leaving ECU down 2-0 in the match.
 
The Tigers struggled to build momentum in the third set as they could not string together any scoring runs while the Pioneers capitalized on their opportunities to secure a commanding 25-13 win.
 
Emma Strickland led ECU with 12 kills as the only Tiger to record a double-digit kill total. Odalys Gonzalez, Faiana Halatoa, and Ashleigh Miller contributed nine, eight, and seven kills, respectively. Julia Kabala tallied 29 assists while Valentina Tijerina led the team in digs with 12.
 
The ECU volleyball team will return to Ada, preparing to host Arkansas Tech on Friday, Oct. 11, and Harding University on Saturday, Oct. 12.