KERRVILLE, Texas-- Texas Lutheran Volleyball advanced to the semifinals after defeating the No. 5 seed Austin College in four sets in the first match of the 2017 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Women's Volleyball Championship Friday afternoon.

In their second match of the day, the semifinals, the Bulldogs faced No. 1 nationally ranked Colorado College. TLU battled and took two games off the No. 1 seed but fell short ending in a five-set loss.

In the four-set victory over Austin College, the Bulldogs won 22-25, 25-23, 25, 23, 25-20. The 'Roos claimed the first set in a point for point battle. TLU rallied and came out strong taking the next three sets.

TLU hit .246 for the match with 63 kills and 21 errors in 171 attempts.

AC plays Centenary College at 11 a.m. Saturday in the fifth-place match.

Bryten Mitchan, TLU's sophomore rightside hitter, led the attack with 18 kills for a career-high .342 hitting percentage. Makenzie Griffin and Hannah Mikelonis added 11 kills, respectively.

Jaci Chambers and Mathis Popelsky held strong in the back row, picking up 24 and 17 digs, respectively. Freshmen setter Kelly Jurden registered 32 assists, and Kionasina Nu'u added 20 assists.

In the semifinal contest against No. 1 Colorado College prevailed in the back-and-forth action in the first two sets, but the Bulldogs stormed sets three and four, sending the match into a fifth game tie-breaker.

Colorado College won 19-25, 23-25, 25-19, 27-25, 8-15 behind 25 kills from Jordan Mullen and 17 kills from Aria Dudley. SCAC Player of the Year, Lizzie Counts, dished out 63 assists.

Griffin posted a career-high 20 kills with only 6 errors to go along with nine digs and a solo block for the Bulldogs. Mitchan tallied 14 kills, while Christie Cosper and Mikelonis contributed 10 kills, respectively. 

Jurden, Chambers and Cailey Young each registered serving aces for TLU.

Colorado College improved to 30-1 overall and won for the third time this season against the Bulldogs.

The loss to the Tigers sent TLU into the third-place match, dropping the Bulldogs to 17-16 overall.

In the third-place match on Saturday, the Bulldogs will take on No. 2 Southwestern University. Game time is set for 2 p.m.