SEGUIN â€" Brette Threadgill notched a career-high 18 kills and helped the Texas Lutheran volleyball program kick off the second half of conference play with a 3-1 home win (19-25, 25-15, 25-21, 25-15) on Friday night over Schreiner at Susan Duke Court.
 
Threadgill (Sinton, Texas) played a huge role in leading the Bulldogs' surge after the team dropped its first set to Schreiner. After the first set, Threadgill pumped out 16 kills on .423 hitting after recording just two kills in the first frame.
 
The first-year Bulldog finished the match with 18 kills on .364 hitting to go along with two digs and a solo block.
 
With the win, the Bulldogs improved to 11-6 overall on the year and 5-3 in SCAC play. They came into the day fourth, but jumped ahead of Southwestern after the Pirates lost to Trinity in Seguin.
 
After dropping that first set 25-19, Texas Lutheran came back with a vengeance, taking the second set 25-15 and holding Schreiner to -.026 hitting in the set. The Bulldogs were paced by Threadgill's five kills and Manda Martin's eight assists.
 
Martin (Burnet, Texas), who was one of two seniors along with Jessica Garcia (Corpus Christi, Texas) to be honored at Senior Night, finished with a match-high 33 assists while finishing off a double-double with 14 digs. She also tallied three aces and three kills.
 
For the match, Texas Lutheran hit .174 while holding Schreiner to .088 hitting. The Bulldogs also recorded 89 digs compared to just 74 for Schreiner.
 
The first set was not a strong one for the Bulldogs, but if you take out the stats from that opening frame in which they hit just .024, the stats are even more impressive. They hit .224 in the final three sets.
 
Next up for Texas Lutheran are two more home matches on Saturday that could have huge implications as things heat up in the race for the top spots in the SCAC. At 12:30 p.m. tomorrow, the Bulldogs take on Southwestern in a battle for third place. TLU finishes up the weekend with a 5 p.m. showdown against Trinity, who sits in first place in the conference with a perfect 8-0 SCAC mark.