SEGUIN, Texas -- Texas Lutheran volleyball swept Howard Payne, 25-16, 25-18, 25-17, to open the 2026 TLU Invitational at Memorial Gymnasium on Friday.
Texas Lutheran (13-4) finished the match with a .220 hitting percentage, while holding Howard Payne to an .049 hitting percentage.
Zaria Solis (Burnet/Burnet) led the way with 10 kills and two blocks. Ava Search (Richmond/Needville) finished with nine kills, 15 digs, and a block.
Kieryn Adams (Schulenburg/Schulenburg) finished with a team-high 16 digs, three assists, and two service aces. Ella Waterbury (Buda/Johnson) led the team with 18 assists and three aces while Addison Gallegos (Floresville/Jourdanton) followed close behind with 15 of her own. Andie Lozano-Lomeli (Brownsville/Pace) had a team-high four blocks to go with four kills.
The Bulldogs stormed out of the gates and rolled to a 25-16 win in the opening set. Texas Lutheran was outstanding all around and was led by four kills from Briana Salvatierra-Moore (San Antonio/Antonian College Prep), who hit .667 in the set. The Bulldogs held the Yellow Jackets to a .068 hitting percentage in the set.
Texas Lutheran rolled their momentum right into the second set. The Yellow Jackets kept it close early before the Bulldogs created separation late in the set to take the second set 25-18. Search tallied four kills in the set while the Bulldogs would hold the Yellow Jackets to a .091 hitting percentage.
Howard Payne started well in the third set - keeping the match close as the match was tied 11-all before TLU closed the match with a 14-6 run to complete the sweep, 25-17. The closing set victory was aided by four kills and a block by Solis.
Texas Lutheran will conclude the TLU Invitational with two matches on Saturday. Texas Lutheran will face Schreiner at 10 AM before turning around to face Dickinson College for the first time in program history at 2:30 PM. The matches will be streamed on FloCollege. All streaming and live stats links will be available on tlubulldogs.com.
For more information on Texas Lutheran volleyball, follow the Bulldogs on Facebook (TLU Volleyball), X (Twitter) (@TLU_VB), and Instagram (@tlu_vb) and as always you can find updates on all Texas Lutheran athletics on tlubulldogs.com and all official TLU social media channels (@tluathletics on X (Twitter), @tlu_athletics on Instagram, and @tlubulldogs on Facebook).
