BELTON, Texas – The Howard Payne University volleyball team's (13-10, 2-8 ASC) season closed out Thursday night, falling short to Hardin-Simmons University 3-2 in a hard fought five-set battle at the Mayborn Campus Center. The Yellow Jackets fought back from an early two-set deficit to force a decisive fifth set before falling 25-23, 25-17, 19-25, 23-25, 15-10.

The Yellow Jackets opened the match with a competitive first set, but Hardin-Simmons edged out a 25-23 victory. The Cowgirls carried that momentum into the second set, taking a 25-17 win to move ahead 2-0. In the first two sets Howard Payne had more kills than the Cowgirls hitting 25 to their 19 but had 20 attack errors to their six.

Facing elimination, the Lady Jackets responded in the third set. HPU found its rhythm offensively, recording 15 kills while hitting .227 to secure a 25-19 victory. The momentum continued into the fourth set as Howard Payne totaled 16 kills and hit .231. The Yellow Jackets battled through a tightly contested set before closing it out 25-23 to even the match at two sets apiece.

In the fifth set, Hardin-Simmons got out to an early lead and never looked back taking the 15-10 match.

Tara Bennett led the Yellow Jackets offensively with 16 kills, hitting .294, while adding 14 digs. Sydnie Mullens followed with 13 kills and 15 digs. Kaylee Honc contributed 11 kills, while Londynn Whitworth added nine kills and three total blocks.

Defensively, Jadyn White led HPU with 17 digs, while Emma Rosier added 17 digs and 21 assists. Addison Roden recorded 12 assists, and Howard Payne finished with eight service aces as a team.

The Yellow Jackets closed out the 2026 season finishing 13-10 overall record and a 2-8 conference record in the American Southwest Conference.