LUBBOCK, Texas (September 17, 2015) – Lubbock Christian University was unable to tame Arkansas-Fort Smith Thursday night inside the Rip Griffin Center, losing a four-set match (25-23, 23-25, 20-25, 21-25) to leave the Lady Chaparrals still searching for their first-ever win against a program that advanced to the Final Four a season ago.
 
The loss puts LCU's losing streak at three, the most consecutive losses by the team since the 2013 season. The Lady Lions totaled 69 kills compared to 48 from the Lady Chaps and racked up 20 more digs and assists on the evening.
 
Coming off of a tough weekend at the Javelina Volleyball tournament last weekend in Corpus Christi, the Lady Chaps (5-5, 2-1 Heartland) seemed to regroup at the start versus UAFS (7-3, 2-0 Heartland) by jumping out to a 5-0 lead. The Lady Lions crawled ahead at 13-12 before kills by Christiana Tavo and Emily Hanaway along with a Kyleigh Lucia service ace put LCU in front, 15-13. Another Tavo kill gave the Lady Chaps their largest margin at 23-16, and Ariel Froeschl finished off the set on a kill that flew off of a defender's arms.
 
A 3-1 edge greeted LCU, and the teams stayed within two points of each other during the remainder of the second set. Two kills by Lady Lion Kennedi Coleman put her team ahead at 21-20 until another Lucia ace tied things up. Coleman gave UAFS a one-point advantage at 23-22 and teammate Merrisa Murphy upped it to 24-22. A service error by the visitors helped out the Lady Chaps, but Murphy was able to put a kill through an LCU defender to tie the match at one apiece.
 
Set three was made up of runs, as the Lady Chaps found themselves down 3-0 to begin, but fired off seven straight points to climb ahead by four. The Lady Lions responded with four unanswered points and pushed their way to a 19-12 advantage before LCU went on a 7-1 run to pull within 20-19. Two errors by the Lady Chaps put UAFS up 23-20, and the Lady Lions finished on a 4-0 run.
 
A kill by Maddie Johnson put LCU up 12-9 in the fourth, but UAFS regained the lead at 16-14 on a block and service ace. Froeschl's kill kept the set tight at 21-19, forcing the Lady Lions to take a timeout. The squads traded kills, but a Lady Chap service and attack error handed UAFS two more points before Coleman delivered a final kill for the match victory.
 
Johnson and Kacey Deterding tallied 11 kills each, Mallory Powell delivered 38 assists, and Heartland Libero of the Week Kelsie French handled 29 digs.
 
UAFS put up big numbers with Coleman's 23 kills, Whitney Mills' 59 assists and Emily Tripp's 48 digs.
 
The Lady Chaps continue their home opening week by hosting Newman Saturday at noon.