September 14, 2015
VOLLEYBALL: SHERMAN, Texas (9/13/15) - Rolling through day two at the Austin College Invitational, East Texas Baptist University swept both St. Gregory's University and Austin College. ETBU shut out each team winning in straight sets and now has won six straight matches and stands at 7-1 overall.
ETBU 3, St. Gregory's 0
ETBU took the first two sets easily from St. Gregory's 25-16 and 25-13 before finishing out the match with a 25-22 win moving to 6-1 overall. Mallory Sanders once again led the team with 17 kills hitting .366. She posted 41 attacks and had only two errors and recorded five digs. Hannah Jones led the team with 14 digs and Reighanna Guzman added 22 assists. ETBU hit .289 overall with their best hitting set coming in set two at .440. They took 25 attempts and had just one error and 12 kills.
ETBU 3, Austin College 0
Taking on host Austin College, ETBU completed the invitational with a sweep of the Roos, 25-12, 25-17, 25-15. ETBU hit a phenomenal .362 with only nine errors on 94 attempts and 43 kills. Sanders recorded 10 kills while Rebekah Troy and Abby Weaver each had nine kills. Weaver posted a .667 hitting percentage with 12 attacks and just one error. Guzman added 17 assists while Alexis Zolan had 16 assists. Jones led the defense with 13 digs. ETBU hit .448 in set one and .447 in set three and had nine service aces.
ETBU will host Texas-Dallas on Tuesday in ASC play starting at 7:00 p.m.
@ETBU_Volleyball Making Noise in Sherman; Upsets #23 SU
VOLLEYBALL: SHERMAN, Texas (9/12/15) - Taking two matches on the first day of play at the Austin College Invitational, the East Texas Baptist University volleyball team tipped No. 23-ranked Southwestern University (Texas) in five sets and then had a four-set win over the University of Dallas. ETBU is now 5-1 on the year and will have two more matches on Saturday in Sherman.
It took all five sets vs. #23 Southwestern for the win. ETBU jumped out to a two-set lead, 25-17, 25-19, before the Pirates won the next two sets 25-20 and 25-20. ETBU held onto the final set, 15-13, for the upset win. It is only the second time in program history that ETBU has defeated a nationally ranked opponent with the first last year over Mary Hardin-Baylor.
Against Southwestern, ETBU's Mallory Sanders finished with 23 kills on 63 swings and added 13 digs. Reighanna Guzman contributed 36 assists and 13 digs, while Bailee Moore hit .310 with a dozen kills on 29 attempts and also had three total blocks. Adaeze Elonu closed out the action with 21 kills and a .385 attacking percentage on 39 swings and also chipped in six total blocks.
Morgan Rupp had 14 digs, and Alexis Zolan finished with 12 assists and 11 digs. Hannah Jones contributed five assists, a pair of service aces and 20 digs.
Overall ETBU hit .215 as a team and concluded the match with 9.0 blocks.
For Southwestern, Kate Mitchell finished with a .300 attacking percentage and 16 kills on 40 attempts. She also chipped in five total blocks. Kaitlyn Foster had 13 kills on 46 attacks and also contributed seven assists and 15 digs. Nikki Welch totaled 22 assists and nine digs, while Jamison Duck had 10 kills on 29 swings as well as five digs.
In all, Southwestern hit .204 and finished the match with 11.0 blocks.
The first set saw ETBU hit a .308 while Southwestern had a .129 attacking percentage. In the opening set alone, Sanders spiked seven kills, while Elonu contributed another five herself. With ETBU ahead by a 13-6 margin, they would late move ahead by as many as a dozen points before securing the set win, 25-17, on a solo block by Elonu.
In set two, ETBU burst out to a 7-0 lead with Hannah Jones serving seven-consecutive times before a Southwestern kill finally broke the shutout streak at 7-1. Southwestern went on to draw within three points after an ETBU attacking error made the score 19-16, but ETBU secured six-of-nine points, including a set-securing kill by Adaeze Elonu, to nab a 25-19 win and a 2-0 upper hand.
The third set was tied up as late as 14-14, but five different Southwestern players contributed multiple kills to propel them to a 25-20 victory and narrowed their deficit to 2-1. Foster tallied the decisive kill for Southwestern.
In set four, Southwestern continued to rally and with the score knotted at 14-14 yet again, they notched a 25-20 set win to force a fifth set. A block assist by Southwestern's Olivia Drummond and Mitchell gave them the decisive point. The fourth set closed with Southwestern hitting .200, and ETBU hitting .073 with nine attack errors on 41 attempts.
The fifth and final set of the afternoon moved to a 12-12 tie late before ETBU grabbed three-of-four points to claim the decisive set, 15-13. Sanders contributed the match-clinching kill with Guzman earning an assist on the play.
ETBU's night match paired them off against Dallas, and lasted four sets as they won by a 3-1 final, 25-13, 25-23, 23-25 and 27-25.
By the conclusion of the match, ETBU hit .306 as a team and had 7.5 blocks.
ETBU's Sanders finished the match with 24 kills on 59 swings for a .356 attack percentage. She also contributed 15 digs. Allison Sevening had 16 assists, while Zolan added 25 assists and 11 digs. Elonu totaled 14 kills on 28 attempts for a .393 attacking percentage and also had six total blocks.
For Dallas, three players finished with at least 10 kills, led by Jaime Birzer?s 16. Elizabeth Smith had a match-best 39 assists, and Lexi Noriega chipped in 10 kills, five service aces and 13 digs.
ETBU continues into the second and final day of the event on Saturday, playing St. Gregory's University (Okla.) at 10 a.m. and then host Austin College (Texas) for a noontime match.
#TIGERSWIN : @ETBU_Football Scores 56 Points Routing Texas College
FOOTBALL: TYLER, Texas (9/13/15) - Starting out strong from the beginning of the game the East Texas Baptist University football team dominated Texas College for their first win of the year, 56-14. Wide receiver Tyler Bates broke the ETBU record for receiving touchdowns in a game with four as the offense came together for 550 yards of total offense.
"It's always good to be in the record books but a big shout out to the offensive live as they helped us out a lot today," says Bates. "Today was special to me because my mother passed when I was three years old and today was her birthday and every year I read her letter and I read it today and it meant a lot to me."
Bates caught five passes for 193 yards and four touchdowns. It was the second best day in his career for receiving yards and the four touchdowns surpasses Roy Butler (10/23/12), Jason Gray (9/30/06), and Earl Morris (9/18/04) three touchdowns caught in a game. His career high is 197 yards caught last year and this is the fifth time in his career to have two or more touchdown receptions in a game.
The offense looked like the offense ETBU knew from last year finishing with 154 yards rushing and 396 yards passing. Josh Warbington threw for 261 yards and four touchdowns while Taylor Therwhanger had 135 yards passing and one touchdown. Jourdan McNeill finished with 72 yards rushing while Kendall Roberson recorded two touchdowns and 61 yards rushing. The final passing touchdown went to Xavier Gray as he finished with 78 yards receiving.
Defensively, the team played some of their best defense under head coach Joshua Eargle's tenure. They sacked the quarterback seven times, forced two fumbles, and recorded three interceptions in which one went for a touchdown. C.J. Johnson earned the defense's first touchdown of the year with a 75-yard pick six in the first quarter. Garrett Gibson led the team with nine tackles while Andre Welch gave seven tackles. Johnson, Zach Biles, and Marcus Harris all had interceptions.
'I'm really proud of our win," says head coach Joshua Eargle. "We had our backs against the wall and we need to respond to some adversity and I'm just proud of how they responded and did that. We took the road to the opponents territory and really good game all around as a football team."
ETBU did the majority of their scoring in the first half with 42 points scoring 21 points in each quarter. Bates caught his first of four touchdowns at the 9:16 mark in the first quarter and then at the 3:48 mark Johnson sparked the defense with a pick-6. His 75-yard touchdown interception put the score at 14-0. Just over two minutes later Warbington connected with Bates on the first play of the drive for a 75-yard touchdown throw (21-0). Warbington the found Bates again at the 11:45 mark in the second quarter from 16-yards our making it three touchdowns in all in the first half.
Texas College found the end zone with 5:05 left in the half but ETBU put 14 points up in less than four minutes for a 42-7 halftime advantage. Roberson danced in from five-yards out with 4:23 remaining and then he dashed in from 23-yards just before the half as 24 seconds read on the clock.
It was not until the third quarter was almost over that Bates broke the single game receiving touchdowns record with his fourth of the day. He landed a 38-yard catch from Warbington for a touchdown as ETBU continued the dominance, 49-7. Texas College add a score with 5:42 left to play making it 49-14. Therwhanger and Gray finished off the scoring on a 62-yard pass for a touchdown with 3:37 left in the game.
ETBU travels to Southwestern University next Saturday in Georgetown, Texas, for a non-conference game starting at 7:00 p.m.
Early UHV Goals Give Jaguars Win
SOCCER (W): MARSHALL, Texas (9/13/15) - Playing on their home pitch for the first time this fall, the East Texas Baptist University women's soccer team failed to find the back of the net as they fell to NAIA's University of Houston-Victoria (Texas), 3-0, on late Saturday afternoon at Cornish Field. Facing an NAIA opponent for the second time in three days, ETBU (0-5) fell behind by a 2-0 margin by the eighth minute.
UHV (4-1-1) capitalized off a corner kick in the seventh minute, with Emily Lupton heading in the goal following a kick by Valeria Hinojosa. Over a minute later, Sheilat Akapo kicked in a pass from Lupton to give UHV a 2-0 edge in the eighth minute. Further down the line, Hinojosa headed in a goal in the 80th minute, and Akapo earned an assist on the play.
ETBU finished with nine shots, including five on-goal. In goal, Elizabeth Hudspeth stopped seven shots. UHV concluded the match with 21 shots, including 10 on-goal. Samantha Wooster made five saves.
ETBU continues its short, three-match home stretch against Sul Ross State University (Texas) on Friday evening. In what will be ETBU's American Southwest Conference opener, the action is set for a 5 p.m. kick at Cornish Field.
UHV Too Much To Handle in Loss
SOCCER (M): MARSHALL, Texas (9/13/15) - The East Texas Baptist University men's soccer couldn't keep up with Houston-Victoria (Texas) offense on Saturday evening at Cornish Field as they dropped a 5-1 contest to the NAIA program. Trailing 2-0 at halftime, ETBU managed to net a goal in 53rd minute to half their deficit, 2-1, but UHV then tallied the match's final three goals. ETBU is now 0-4 on the year.
Only three minutes into the match, UHV (3-2) struck on a Jonathan Valdez goal with Espen Hansen assisting on the play. Later on Miguel Cruz converted a penalty kick attempt just a second into the 23rd minute to make it a 2-0 UHV lead. Into the second half, Pedro Guerra brought ETBU (0-4) within a single goal, finding the back of the net to slice UHV's lead, 2-1.
UHV would respond, however, and create a substantial cushion to close out the match. Taylor Gordon netted a goal in the 65th minute, with Uriel Garcia and Juan Vega assisting on the play. Jose Munoz scored in the 83rd minute as Stanley Smith earned an assist. Lastly, Smith netted a goal himself in the 90th minute to account for the final score.
ETBU fired off 11 shots, three of them on-goal. Juan Perales made seven saves in 82-plus minutes in goal, while Ryan Hammond stopped a pair of shots in seven-plus minutes in net.
UHV finished with 20 shots, including 14 on-goal. Brian Redmond played the entire match in goal, making two saves.
Up next for ETBU is a home match against University of Texas-Dallas on Friday night. The match is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start at Cornish Field.
ETBU Finishes Ahead of NCAA D1 & D2 Programs at SAU
CROSS COUNTRY (W): MAGNOLIA, Ark. (9/11/2015) - Competing in the Lois Davis Invitational at Southern Arkansas University, the East Texas Baptist University women's cross country finished ahead of two NCAA Division I and NCAA Division II programs in sixth place overall. Shelby Taylor showed she was one of the best in the south with a 15th place finish out of over 80 runners and the second best NCAA Division III runner.
Taylor, who finished the race in 21:02, finished ahead of several NCAA Division I and II runners and was behind just 30 seconds from being in the top 10. ETBU had two other runners finish in the top 30 in Shelby Sparks (29th; 22:41) and Megan Merrill (30th; 22:41). Amy Daly (40th; 23:22) was then in 40th place while Chloe Hudson (23:35) was 42nd, Hannah Crisp (24:40) in 48th and Alyssa Cummings (25:40) in 53rd.
Rounding out the group of competitors of ETBU were Sarah Brotzman, (58th; 26:30), Courtney Stevens (63rd; 27:08), Vicky Gutierrez (70th; 28:14) and Caroline Lowe (77th; 31:20).
As a team, ETBU finished 17 points behind fifth-place University of Texas-Dallas and 29 points ahead of Grambling State University (La.).
Up next for ETBU will be a trip to Rhodes College for a 6K event scheduled for Sept. 26 in Memphis, Tennessee.
Price Leads ETBU to 6th Place Finish at SAU
CROSS COUNTRY (M): MAGNOLIA, Ark. (9/11/15) - Taking on NCAA Division I, II, and III competition at the Lois Davis Invitational held on the campus of Southern Arkansas University, East Texas Baptist University finished in sixth place in the men's category with 187 points. Landon Price was one of the top 30 finishers in 26th place in the 8K run (28:14).
Price was the top NCAA Division III runner ahead of all of the Texas-Dallas runners in 26th place. Texas-Dallas top runner came in 34th place. Ramiro Mendez (29:55) was the second runner to cross the line in 40th place followed by Beau Billings in 45th (30:16), Seth Powers in 62nd (33:37) and Joshua Horn in 71st ( 41:10).
ETBU totaled 187 points as a team, trailing fifth-place University of Texas?Dallas by 28 points and placing ahead of seventh-place Jarvis Christian College (Texas) by a pair of points. They also came in ahead of NCAA Division I Arkansas-Pine Bluff and NCAA Division II Arkansas-Monticello.
ETBU returns to action on Sept. 26 when they travel to Memphis, Tennessee, to compete at Rhodes College in another 8K event.