LUBBOCK, Texas (September 25, 2026) – Lubbock Christian University made its long-awaited home debut a successful one Friday, defeating St. Mary's 3-1 (28-26, 25-21, 17-25, 25-19) in Lone Star Conference play inside Rip Griffin Center.
After opening the season with 12 consecutive matches away from home, the Lady Chaparrals improved to 6-7 overall, 2-1 in LSC play and 1-0 at home. St. Mary's fell to 8-5 and 1-2 despite a 24-kill performance by Laurene Robinson.
LCU overcame statistical disadvantages in attack percentage, kills and blocks, as St. Mary's hit .302 with 56 kills and 10 blocks compared with LCU's .246 clip, 53 kills and four blocks. The Lady Chaps countered with a season-high 12 service aces.
Camryn Blair led LCU with 16 kills on a .414 hitting percentage, including seven kills on 10 attempts in the fourth set. Freshman
Kayson Reeves added a career-high 12 kills, two aces and three blocks for a 16-point performance.
Ramsey Clark served a career-high four aces, while
Haley Wheeler added a career-best three.
Camdyn Sears directed the offense with 37 assists, four kills and seven digs.
LCU survived a late St. Mary's rally in the opening set, getting consecutive kills from
Leigh Jespersen and Blair to close a 28-26 win. After the Rattlers forced a fourth set, LCU pulled away late and Clark sealed the match with an ace.
The victory improved LCU to 14-4 in home openers since 2008.
Game Notes
» LCU entered the night as one of two LSC programs that had yet to play at home this season. The Lady Chaps, who went 11-3 at home last season, improved to 14-4 in home openers since 2008.
» A statistical anomaly, LCU won for the first time this season despite being edged in three major categories: attack percentage, kills and blocks. The Lady Chaps improved to 1-7 when their opponent has a better attack percentage, as St. Mary's held a .302-.246 edge, and to 1-7 when being out-killed, with the Rattlers holding a 56-53 advantage. LCU also improved to 2-4 when being out-blocked, as StMU held a 10-4 edge. The last time LCU won while trailing in all three categories came Oct. 4, 2025, when the Lady Chaps defeated St. Edward's 3-1 in Austin.
» Fairly rare that a team hitting at least .300 loses a game (LCU has not lost a game hitting at least .300 since Nov. 16, 2024, hitting .309 against Dallas Baptist), but it happened for St. Mary's. The last time an opponent hit that well and fell to LCU was last season, as Oklahoma Christian fell to LCU despite OC hitting .330 (Sept. 20, 2025). For StMU, it marks the third time this season they have lost a match when hitting at least .300.
» LCU produced a season-high 12 serving aces for the first time since notching 12 against Cameron on Oct. 22, 2022. It is LCU's highest total of serving aces at home since registering 12 against Northwestern Oklahoma State on Sept. 22, 2018. Six different Lady Chaps had at least one ace, led by a career-high mark of four by
Ramsey Clark and a career-high three from freshman
Haley Wheeler.
» Senior
Camryn Blair registered 16 kills for her sixth double-figure kill performance this season (12
th of her LCU career). The total was part of a 17-point performance, as she also had an ace in the mix. Blair's season high in kills is 17 (Sept. 5 vs. Converse). Blair's evening Friday included a .414 attack percentage.
» Freshman
Kayson Reeves reached double figures in kills for the second time this season with a career-best 12 kills. She also added a pair of kills and a trio of blocks for a 16-point outing.
»
Leigh Jespersen had four kills to place her season total at 100 on the season. Jespersen, who spent the prior to seasons at Hardin-Simmons, reaches 100 kills for a third consecutive season and surpassed the 500-kill mark in her collegiate career.
» LCU improved to 2-1 this season in matches decided in four sets.
» St. Mary's was making their first visit to Lubbock since 2022 and second since 2019, as they drop to 3-5 all-time in Lubbock against the Lady Chaps. The Rattlers still lead the all-time series 17-14 (dates back to 1980), but LCU has won 12 of the latest 19 meetings in the series. LCU last defeated the Rattlers in Lubbock on Oct. 27, 2018.
How It Happened
SET 1 | LCU 28, StMU 26
-
Camryn Blair served the Lady Chaps to the first four points (4-0), including an ace, a
Tatum Fleitman kill from
Camdyn Sears and a
Leigh Jespersen kill.
- StMU worked back to an 8-8 tie, but the Lady Chaps rebuilt the margin and moved ahead 21-15 after an
Aubree Lundberg block closed a 5-1 LCU run.
- The Rattlers rallied late, storming back tying the set at 24-24 on consecutive Laurene Robinson kills and moving ahead 25-24 on a service ace.
- The Lady Chaps answered in extra points, and after Tara Creekmore tied it at 26-26, Jespersen and Blair delivered back-to-back kills to finish the set 28-26.
-
Tatum Fleitman led LCU with four kills, while Robinson led StMU with six kills in the set.
SET 2 | LCU 25, StMU 21
- Similar to the first set, the Lady Chaps jumped out early, scoring the first five points (5-0) and later led 7-2 before StMU answered with five straight points to tie the set at 7-7.
- From there, the Lady Chaps put together a 6-0 run to move ahead 13-7, using kills from
Kayson Reeves and
Camryn Blair along with two service aces.
- Reeves helped the Lady Chaps keep separation through the middle of the set with kills that pushed the lead to 20-14.
- The Rattlers trimmed the margin to 22-19, but Blair and Jespersen answered with kills before
Tatum Fleitman finished the 25-21 set win.
- Reeves (6) and Blair (5) combined for 11 kills.
SET 3 | StMU 25, LCU 17
- StMU built an early 9-2 lead behind kills from Laurene Robinson and Tara Creekmore, plus two service aces.
- The Lady Chaps worked back into the set, getting points from Reeves,
Camryn Blair, Lundberg and Jespersen before pulling within 13-12.
- The Rattlers responded with five straight points, including three Robinson kills and an Emerson Chang ace, to move ahead 18-12.
-
Hope Gonsioroski added two late kills and
Haley Wheeler served back-to-back aces, but StMU closed the set at 25-17.
SET 4 | LCU 25, StMU 19
- The Lady Chaps moved from a 4-3 deficit to an 8-5 lead behind a Reeves kill, a Jespersen ace, a Sears kill and two
Camryn Blair kills.
- After the Rattlers cut the margin to 14-12, the Lady Chaps answered with three straight points, including a Reeves kill and a block by Reeves and Gonsioroski, to go up 17-12.
- StMU stayed within 21-18 late, but Blair added another kill,
Kyla Farnan served an ace and
Ramsey Clark closed the 25-19 set with an ace.
- StMU received 8 kills from Robinson, while LCU's Blair had 7 kills on 10 chances.
What's Next
The Lady Chaps remain home Saturday at 2 p.m., as they host St. Edward's for a Lone Star Conference match inside Rip Griffin Center.
