SAN ANTONIO â€" The Texas Lutheran volleyball squad mounted a furious comeback, but that effort fell just short as the Bulldogs fell 3-2 to Trinity in the semifinals of the 2013 SCAC Volleyball Championship on Friday.
 
The Bulldogs earned that trip to the semifinals after a convincing sweep of fifth-seeded Austin College earlier in the day.
 
The tough loss does not mean the Bulldogs' season is over however, since the SCAC Volleyball Championship holds a consolation bracket. TLU will battle for third place at 4:30 p.m. on Saturday. The Bulldogs will face the loser of the second semifinal match between second-seeded Colorado College and third-seeded Southwestern.
 
Texas Lutheran, which came into the tournament as the fourth seed with a 17-11 overall mark and a 7-7 SCAC record, came back against Trinity after getting down two sets-to-none.
 
The Bulldogs battled out of the hold and gave the No. 14-ranked Tigers all they handle, even forcing the fifth game to its maximum before falling 15-13. Even in that last set the Bulldogs fought back from a 10-5 deficit to get as close as 14-13.
 
Senior Manda Martin (Burnet, Texas) did everything she could to keep the Bulldogs in it, notching her 12th double-double of the season behind 43 assists and 13 digs. She finished just one assist shy of tying her season high. The senior setter also tallied three kills and an ace against the Tigers.
 
Many of those Martin assists couldn't have been made possible without the finishing touches put on by outside hitters Brette Threadgill and Vanecia Spencer. The two combined for 32 of the Bulldogs 61 kills.
 
Threadgill (Sinton, Texas) led the way for Texas Lutheran with 17 kills on .098 hitting, while Spencer (Grandview, Texas) was right behind with 15 kills of her own on .278 hitting.
 
Megan Lee (Universal City, Texas), the recently-named SCAC Backrow Player of the Year, continued her strong work in the back with a team-high 27 digs. She was joined by Megan Dugie (San Antonio, Texas), who tallied 25 digs.
 
In the quarterfinals, Texas Lutheran faced off against Austin College for the third time this season. It appeared that the match would be a tight one, with the two teams splitting the season series and going five sets in both matches.
 
Friday's quarterfinal matchup was totally different though as Texas Lutheran rolled to the 25-15, 28-26, 25-16 sweep.
 
The tone was set from the get-go with the dominant 25-15 win in the opening frame. The Bulldogs never trailed and sprinted away with the set with a 15-5 closing run.
 
As a team, Texas Lutheran hit .265 while holding Austin College to .135 hitting on the afternoon.
 
Once again, it was Threadgill and Spencer leading the offense. Both players tallied 13 kills with Spencer hitting .345 and Threadgill hitting .294.
 
The two outside hitters were guided by Martin's 33 assists, while Lee was the defensive leader with 23 digs.