SEGUIN â€" For the second time this season, the Texas Lutheran volleyball team has gone up against a team ranked in the Top 25 and come away victorious after sweeping No. 21 Trinity at home on Saturday evening.
 
The Bulldogs lost 3-1 to Southwestern earlier in the day but bounced back with the convincing upset.
 
After Saturday, the Bulldogs moved to 12-7 on the year and 6-4 in SCAC play, putting them in fourth place in the conference, just one game behind Southwestern for third.
 
Against Trinity, a team which came into the contest with a perfect 9-0 conference mark, the Bulldogs played some inspired volleyball, hitting .208 on the evening while holding the Tigers to .198 hitting.
 
The Bulldogs got 25 combined kills from Brette Threadgill and Vanecia Spencer, 35 assists from Manda Martin and 30 digs from Megan Lee to help lead the upset.
 
Things didn't get off to that scintillating start however, as Trinity built a 12-7 advantage in the first set. From there the Bulldogs began to chip away, embarking on a 9-3 run to take their first lead of the match. Trinity would retake the lead at 18-17, but after that it was all Bulldogs to finish things off with a 25-23 win in the opening frame.
 
The set was capped off with an emphatic kill by Spencer (Grandview, Texas), who finished the day with 12 kills (.312 hitting) and sparked the Bulldogs' offense off the bench. She notched six kills (.667 hitting) in that first set.
 
Spencer was joined by Threadgill (Sinton, Texas), who matched that offensive output with six kills of her own (.333 hitting) in the first frame. The first-year Bulldog finished with 13 kills (.310 hitting) and three blocks.
 
Much like the first set, the Tigers held the early advantage in the second frame, jumping out to a 9-4 lead before the Bulldogs once again began a march towards the lead. This time, things happened much quicker as Texas Lutheran, down 10-7, ran off five straight points to take a 12-10 lead.
 
The run was sparked by two TLU service aces and two kills by Haley Lasseter (New Braunfels, Texas). The sophomore middle blocker led the team with four kills in that second set and finished the match with eight kills and a block.
 
The Bulldogs never relinquished the lead after that, holding off the Tigers to take the second set 25-22.
 
Riding the momentum from the first two sets, the Bulldogs came out of the gate quickly in the third, and ended the match with a wire-to-wire 25-20 win.  The key run came early with the score tied at six. At that point, the Bulldogs scored nine of the next 11 points to take a 15-8 lead.
 
That lead would be enough even after Trinity scored four straight to close the gap to just one at 20-19. The Tigers would never tie it up though, as the Bulldogs answered the run with four straight points of their own to open up a 24-19 advantage. The match was finished off with a Martin kill.
 
Martin (Burnet, Texas), one of two Bulldog seniors playing her final regular season match at home, was the steady leader of the Bulldogs' offense once again, tallying 35 assists, five digs and five kills.
 
The Bulldogs were also excellent on defense all day and a key reason for that was Lee's production from her libero spot. Lee (Universal City, Texas) finished with 30 digs and an ace.
 
In Saturday's opening match, a 10-25, 22-25, 25-17, 13-25 loss to Southwestern, the Bulldogs' offense was held in check to the tune of .100 hitting. The two key sets were the first the fourth, where the Pirates outscored Texas Lutheran a combined 50-23.
 
After dropping the first two sets, the Bulldogs showed some feistiness in taking the third set to stay alive.
 
Threadgill, who also led the Bulldogs in Friday's win over Schreiner, was once again the offensive leader at outside hitter, finishing with a team-high 14 kills (.082 hitting).
 
Lee was a definite bright spot for the Bulldogs, recording a season-high 43 digs over the four sets. She also notched three assists, an ace and a kill against the Pirates.
 
Texas Lutheran will have one more weekend of SCAC matches to try and improve their positioning in the conference standings. The Bulldogs will hit the road next weekend with four matches all being held in Sherman, Texas on the campus of Austin College. The Bulldogs will take on Austin College and Centenary next Saturday before wrapping up SCAC regular-season play against Dallas and No. 9 Colorado College on Sunday.