SEGUIN â€" The Texas Lutheran volleyball squad opened up its season by splitting a pair of matches in the first day of the Bulldog Classic on Friday night on Susan Duke Court inside Tostengard Activity Center.
 
The Bulldogs dropped a heartbreaker in the season-opener, falling 3-1 (25-14, 24-26, 23-25, 24-26) to Concordia Texas, before closing the night with a resounding sweep (25-9, 25-8, 25-7) of Houston Community College.
 
Texas Lutheran will wrap up the Bulldog Classic tomorrow with two more matches against the University of Texas at Tyler and St. Joseph's College (Long Island) at 11 a.m. and 5 p.m., respectively.
 
In the afternoon matchup against Concordia Texas, the Bulldogs got off to a great start, winning the first set 25-14 behind some impressive .393 hitting. The squad was paced in the first set by freshman middle blocker Anna Keeling. The Houston native picked up four kills in the set on .667 hitting.
 
The Tornadoes picked things up after the first set though and took the next three frames, each by the slimmest margin possible â€" two points.
 
In the second set, TLU found itself down 22-16, but rallied to take a 24-23 lead before Concordia notched three straight points to take the set and gain momentum.
 
"We missed a lot of crucial serves," Texas Lutheran coach Tiffany Davis said. "It's a cardinal rule in volleyball: you never miss a serve coming out of a timeout and you never miss one on game point. That's easy stuff to improve on. That was the first time a lot of these girls stepped on the floor together and it makes a big difference. We have a lot of room for improvement."
 
As a team, the Bulldogs finished with .097 hitting. Sophomore Brette Threadgill (Sinton, Texas) led the way offensive as the only Bulldog to reach double-digits in kills, recording 10 total on .167 hitting.
 
Keeling finished with a strong night, recording eight kills (.467 hitting).
 
Both Manda Martin and Katie Darst recorded 18 assists, while Savannah Erskine led the way with 19 digs.
 
In the nightcap, the Bulldogs came out with a vengeance against the Golden Eagles, defeating them by no less than 16 points in every set.
 
TLU finished with .444 hitting on the night and held Houston C.C. to just six kills. The Bulldogs tallied 20 service aces on the night and everyone on the TLU roster saw some playing time.
 
"It's all about developing chemistry and seeing what all of your players can do," Davis said. "Tonight gave us a really good opportunity. We got the entire roster in to see them perform and see them under a little bit of pressure. It doesn't matter how good the team is on the other side, they still have a little pressure on themselves. It was a lot of fun to play games like that."
 
Matches against community colleges do not count towards NCAA or school records.