BOLIVAR, Mo. – The East Central University volleyball team opened the Southwest Baptist Invitational with a perfect 2-0 record on Friday, beginning the day with a dominant sweep of Lane College before closing out the night with a thrilling five-set victory over tournament host Southwest Baptist University.
ECU will wrap up the tournament tomorrow with a quick turnaround, facing Christian Brothers University at 9 a.m. before closing out the invitational against Drury University at 5:30 p.m.
The Tigers opened the day by taking down Lane in straight sets, 25-18, 25-14, 25-11. ECU controlled the match from start to finish, hitting .223 as a team while recording 42 kills, 42 assists, 60 digs, four aces and seven blocks.
Reagan Hutchinson led the Tigers with 12 kills, while
Addison Iman added 11 kills and hit .360.
Lana Wright contributed six kills, and
Kendyl Keenan added four kills while hitting .429.
Tatum Flemming paced the offense with 33 assists, while
Bryleigh Wallace led the defensive effort with 15 digs. Hutchinson added six digs, while Iman and Flemming each recorded four and seven digs, respectively.
ECU then faced a much different challenge in its second match of the day, taking on tournament host Southwest Baptist in a back-and-forth five-set battle.
The Tigers claimed the opening set 25-23 before Southwest Baptist responded with wins of 25-18 and 25-20 to take a 2-1 lead. ECU answered in the fourth set, battling to a 26-24 victory to force a decisive fifth set.
The final set proved to be just as competitive, with 12 tied scores and six lead changes. However, the Tigers ultimately came out on top, 17-15, to complete the five-set victory and finish the opening day undefeated.
ECU recorded 59 kills, 56 assists, 81 digs, nine aces and 10 blocks against the hosts. The Tigers saved their best offensive performance for the decisive fifth set, recording 13 kills while hitting .303 to secure the win.
Addison Iman led the Tigers offensively with a career-best 20 kills, while
Peyton Spahn was next with 12 kills.
Emily Pena orchestrated the offense with 35 assists and added a team-high 23 digs.
Reagan Hutchinson contributed 11 kills and 16 digs for her first double-double of the season, while
Bryleigh Wallace added 15 digs.
Lana Wright chipped in four kills, two aces and five blocks.
