LAREDO, Texas (September 10, 2015) – Four double-digit kill performances by the Lubbock Christian attackers lifted the Lady Chaps to a five-set win (18-25, 25-12, 25-21, 20-25, 15-13) over Texas A&M International in their Heartland Conference season opener Thursday night at the Kinesiology and Convocation Building.
 
Kacey Deterding and Christiana Tavo each tallied a team-high 13 kills, Emily Hanaway provided a dozen and Maddie Johnson totaled 11. Mallory Powell handed out 50 assists, while Kelsie French had a game-high 37 digs.
 
LCU (4-1, 1-0 Heartland) looked as though the long trip to Laredo may have had an effect on them at the start as TAMIU (0-5, 0-1 Heartland) pieced together a 6-0 run to pull ahead 10-6 and another five straight points for a 16-10 Dustdevil advantage. The Lady Chaps failed to gain enough momentum to take down the home team in set one.
 
In set two, the Lady Chaps regrouped and doubled up the Dustdevils early at 10-5 following a pair of kills by Hanaway. A kill by Ariel Froeschl down the middle upped the lead to 16-9 as LCU scored the final four points of set two to knot the match at one game apiece.
 
A powerful kill by Johnson in set three knocked over a Dustdevil defender to tie the game at 7-7 before a trio of TAMIU attack errors again tied the game at 15-all. The teams traded points until Deterding, Tavo and Hanaway put away the set on three consecutive kills.
 
The Dustdevils started strong in the fourth set to go up 8-3 on the Lady Chaps. A Hanaway kill inched LCU to within 11-8, but a block and kill from TAMIU's Madison Morris alongside a Paula Mrowczynska ace and a Lady Chap attack error paced the home team out to a 15-8 advantage. Down 23-16, LCU crept to within 24-20, but a kill by Mrowczynska lifted TAMIU to force a decisive final set.
 
Tied at 2-2 in the fifth, a kill by Deterding, an ace from Kyleigh Lucia and a pair of TAMIU attack errors gave the Lady Chaps a 6-2 edge. A kill by Johnson extended the lead to 10-5, but the Dustdevils did not back down and found themselves to within 11-10 following a kill, block and service ace. LCU gained a bit of breathing room on a TAMIU attack error and a huge kill through the middle by Deterding to jump ahead 13-10. Tavo skimmed an attack off of a Dustdevil block to place Lady Chaps at match point before Hanaway closed the game on another kill.
 
For TAMIU, Morris put down a game-high 24 kills, Lizzie Prieto recorded 50 assists and Cassandra Hernandez had 30 digs.
 
The Lady Chaps travel to compete in Texas A&M-Kingsville's Emerald Beach Hotel-Javelina Volleyball Invitational Friday and Saturday, facing Drury at 2:20 p.m. Friday followed by Heartland member St. Mary's at 6:30 p.m. LCU then takes on the host Javelinas at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday and then Bentley at 6:30 p.m.