BROWNWOOD, Texas- The Howard Payne University women's volleyball team dropped their first conference matches of the season 3-1 and 3-0 to the University of Mary Hardin Baylor on Tuesday evening in the Brownwood Coliseum.
 
Game One
The Lady Jackets struggled to find their rhythm, dropping the first set 25-15. HPU bounced back in the second set going on a 4-0 run to start that included three aces by Daisy Flores. The Lady Jackets were up 19-13 when the Crusaders went on a 5-0 run to get within one. Howard Payne held on to win the second set 25-22. UMHB won the last two sets 25-16 and 25-19 to close out the match.
 
Mya Ross led the Lady Jacks with eight kills followed by Mitsue Rodriguez who had seven. Kaitlyn Elsten and Riley Brittain had 13 assists each. Daisy Flores recorded 24 digs.
 
Corinne Novak recorded 12 kills for the Crusaders. Alli Pierce had 21 assists. Maddie Gillispie had a game high 25 digs followed by Hannah Frasca's 24.
 
Game Two
 
The Lady Jackets fell 3-0 to the Crusaders in the second match of the double header. The scores of those sets were 25-16, 25-19, and 25-12.
 
Mitsue Rodriguez let the Lady Jackets in kills with eight, Riley Brittain had 18 assists, and Elizabeth Benn had 18 digs.
 
Corinne Novak, Kayla Janikula, and Faith Holzhausen each had five kills for the Crusaders. All Pierce had 16 assists and Adrien Valdez and 18 digs.
 
Howard Payne falls to 2-2 on the season and 0-2 in the American Southwest Conference. Mary Hardin Baylor moves to 2-0 overall and 2-0 in the ASC. The Lady Jackets will take on Concordia University Texas at home on Tuesday Feb. 16^th in a double header starting at 5:00 pm.