BROWNWOOD, Texas- The Howard Payne University volleyball team lost a close five-set match to LeTourneau University 3-2 on Friday afternoon in the Brownwood Coliseum.

The match was very close from start to finish. The Lady Jackets led by as much as seven in the first set but lost 25-22.

The Lady Jackets were dominant in the second set and never trailed the YellowJackets. Nevertheless, Howard Payne won 25-28.

The third set was very close, with neither team leading by more than 2. However, LeTourneau ended up on top 27-25 to take the 2-1 lead heading into the fourth set.

HPU led most of the fourth set a got the 25-21 win to force a fifth set.

The Lady Jackets struggled to find their footing and dropped the fifth set 15-7.

Fabianna Bennett and Hannah Parnell led Howard Payne with 12 kills, followed by Abbie Knepper with ten. Riley Brittain had 25 assists, followed by Kaitlyn Elsten with 21. Holland Hancock registered 22 digs for HPU.

Kaci Monk led LETU with 15 kills, and Samantha Winkel had 23 assists.

The Lady Jackets are now 2-8 on the season and 1-4 in the American Southwest Conference. They will play UT Dallas on Saturday, Sept. 25th, at 2:00 PM in the Brownwood Coliseum.