IRVINE, Calif. – Despite a dominant display in the opening set, women's volleyball suffered their first loss of the campaign on Saturday afternoon, falling 3-1 to Texas Woman's University at CU Arena. VU were the controlling interest in a commanding 25-13 set one win but lost the next three frames by narrow margins of 22-25, 26-24, and 21-25. Both teams see their records shift to 2-1 overall.

Despite a streaky hitting performance across the four sets, the Lions still saw three players collect double-digit kills. Adeline Galvanoni and Morgan Cole each paced VU with 14 kills. Cole also snagged her first double-double of the season and 35th of her career with an impressive 22 digs.  It was the eighth time the outside hitter tallied 20 digs or more in her time with the Blue and Gold.

Kayla Robinson also had a career-contest, finishing with a career-best 11 kills while clipping .474 (11-2-19). She also had a team-high four blocks and her first career service ace.

Macy Kavanaugh brought the heat from the service line with a match-best four aces to go along with her 28 assists. She was followed by Julia Ringenberg who added 13 assists and seven digs.

TWU was led by a pair of hitters in Myracle Stockman and Sydney Garrison, who each had season-best marks of 14 kills, with Stockman hitting a potent .480 (14-2-25).

The Blue and Gold led in four of the five major statistical categories but were out-hit in the end, .196 (46-19-138) to .164 (55-27-171) by the Owls.

What Happened?
Set 1- The Lions were in system to get the match underway, as Kavanaugh spear-headed a 6-0 serving run, piling two aces to force an early TWU timeout. Stockman finally got the Owls on the board after the break, but VU delivered another 5-0 run to cement a sturdy lead at 11-1. TWU snuck up to five points in the set after three Lion errors, but Delaney Hill helped reset the rhythm from the right side. The senior would finish the match with nine kills and opened her account in the middle of the frame, netting four kills to place the Lions at their largest lead of the game at 15 (21-6 VU). The Owls ended the set much improved, but Victoria Dickson had the finishing touches of the frame with two service aces to close the set for VU 25-13.

The Lions hit a match-high .300 (15-6-30) for the period compared to TWU's match-low .05 (5-4-20).

Set 2- Vanguard's impenetrable tempo was broken in the second stanza, as the Lions lost their first set of the season. TWU improved their attack to a .273 (14-5-33) clip and never dropped the lead in the set.

The Owls set the pace with a 5-2 start, before two errors and Cole's cross court shot brought the Lions on better footing. Cole went back-to-back from the left side, and a tidy finish from Payton Darm in the middle kept VU within one (8-7 TWU). The Blue and Gold surrendered a bad set and a pair of attacking errors to return the Owl cushion. Then Stockman and Garrison created the next four kills to stretch the score to 17-12 TWU. Abigayle Gotwals, who ended with two kills and 10 digs, translated a defensive pick up into another VU point to try and stir a comeback. Kate Fagundes had the final point of a 5-2 Lions run, marking an ace to bring VU within three (20-17).

The Owls matched the Lions' late push, however, with both teams sporting a 5-5 run to finish the set.

Set 3- Set three was all about errors and runs, as both sides sprouted key runs to fight for control. It was VU's game-high nine miscues, though, which handed the Owls a 2-1 lead as the Lions were hindered by a .096 hitting percentage (14-9-52). There was also a scrap for authority in the front row, with VU narrowly leading blocks 4-3.

The Lions had a 4-0 start to the interval with two more aces from Kavanaugh. TWU answered back with a 5-2 push to usher their way back into a groove. The set settled into five ties until the Owls finally broke away on a 5-0 run, utilizing three Garrison kills to make it 15-11 TWU. Vanguard's response was swift, as a pair of kills from Robinson and Galvanoni steered the Blue and Gold on six straight points to regain the lead 17-15. Galvanoni crushed another pair of strikes from the right side to put the Lions back up to their largest lead of the set at four (21-17 VU) as the Lions searched to finish the set.

Trouble, however, came in the form of attacking errors. The Lions would cough up four in crunch time, hoisting the Owls on a 9-3 run, as two straight VU errors ended the set 26-24 TWU.

Set 4- The match concluded with VU hitting .152 to TWU's .205. The Lions cut the attacking errors from the previous set back down to six, but Texas Woman's minimized their mistakes as well, down to four. The frame formed seven ties and was also the only set where the Lions trailed from the service line (2-1 TWU).
VU's middles were in system to start the set, dishing out three of the first four Lion points for a 5-4 TWU scoreline. Cole had her hand in the next Lion run, as a 3-0 burst notched the score at seven all. Neither team could pull away after a poor run of errors until VU mustered a 6-1 run, which featured Robinson's first career ace.

VU errors brought TWU back into the set, producing half the points on their 6-2 charge back, to trail the Lions by one (20-19 VU). Hill had the last kill of the contest for the Lions, as the Owls used a 6-1 run to blemish the Lions' perfect record on the season.

What's Next? VU will return to the Freed Center to host the VU/Biola Tournament with a pair of games against CSU Monterey Bay and Stanislaus State on Friday, September 12. The first match will start at 12:30 p.m., with the second match scheduled for later that evening at 6 p.m.