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LeTourneau University – Sports

MEN’S GOLF

ABILENE, Texas – Playing for the final time this fall, the LeTourneau University men’s golf team moved up one spot to finish seventh at the Abilene Intercollegiate Golf Meet in Abilene, Texas while the JV team took 11th at the Tyler Junior College Fall Invitational in Tyler.

Over in Abilene, the YellowJackets shot a final round score of 315 to pick up one spot and finish with a team score of 641 on the team board to beat out fellow American Southwest Conference School Howard Payne University who finished eighth with a two-day total of 650. No. 9 Concordia University Texas won the team title by 23 strokes over Hardin-Simmons University who shot a final round 299 to finish with a score of 600.

Senior Mason Terry bounced back from a first round 80 to shoot a four-over 75 today which included two birdies on the back nine and three overall in the series to finish tied for 17th. Daniel Kay managed to pull a final round 78 to tie for 33rd while Corey Gillespie finished just two strokes back of Kay with a two-day total of 165 (76-89). Other individual scores for LeTourneau out in Abilene included Dustin Dingler who improved six spots on the final day to take 38th with a score of 166 (87-79) while Cody Taylor finished tied for 39th (85-83-168).

The LETU JV team would stay consistent with yesterday’s first round of 312 by shooting a final round 317 on the Par-72 course at Pine Springs Golf Club, edging out North Central Missouri College who finished with a two-day total of 631. Midland Community College won the team title with a final round 279 to overcome day one leader Murray State College who had a three-shot lead going into today.

Caleb Biggers would lead the YellowJacket charge on the course, shooting a final round of 76 to pair with yesterday’s 75 to finish with a two-day total of 151 which was good enough for a tie for 43rd. Buster Byrnes came in tied for 49th with a final round 77 to finish with a total of 153 while Shance Sims and Ryan Newell both followed up rounds of 81 yesterday with a series of 82 today to finish tied for 68th. Keaton Williams shot a final round of 89 to finish 72nd with a two-day total of 169.

LeTourneau will now take a break during the late fall and early winter months before ramping things back up next semester with a spring schedule that will include six meets. The first outing of the spring will be the Howard Payne University Match Play event held in Brownwood, Texas on February 16 and 17.

 

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

RICHARDSON, Texas – Heading into their first year under head coach Cassi Rozanski, the LeTourneau University women’s basketball team has been picked to finish fourth in the American Southwest Conference East Division Preseason Poll, announced by the ASC conference offices on Tuesday afternoon.

The YellowJackets earned a total of 58 points, topping fifth-place Belhaven who came in with 50 points. Making the top spot in the preseason poll and collecting 10 of the 16 first-place votes was the University of Texas-Dallas who took a total of 104 points followed by the University of Texas-Tyler who had five first-place votes and 98 total points. Just ahead of LETU was Louisiana College who took the final first-place vote and came in third with 79 points while East Texas Baptist (40 points) and the University of Ozarks (28 points) rounded out the east division.

A broad open ASC west division saw the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor claim the top spot with six first-place votes and 62 points while Howard Payne came in second with 58 points and four first-place votes. Concordia Texas was picked third with 52 total points and one first-place vote followed by Hardin-Simmons (32 points, one first-place vote), McMurry (27 points) and Sul Ross State (21 points).

Two YellowJackets were listed among this year’s players to watch list with freshmen Keauna Whitfield and Madison Mayfield both named as part of the 30-player roster. Whitfield is a Rosebud, Texas native and averaged 20.1 points, 11.4 rebounds, 4.6 assists, and 5.1 steals per game at Rosebud-Lott high school while Mayfield averaged eight points and seven rebounds per game at Barbers Hill High School.

 

WOMEN’S SOCCER

RICHARDSON, Texas – For the first time in her career, LeTourneau University senior goalkeeper Carrye Funk has been named American Southwest Conference Women’s Soccer Co-Defensive Player of the Week for her performance in the eighth week of the season.

Funk splits the honor with Hardin-Simmons University senior defender Maddie McAdams (Abilene, Texas) after recording a pair of shutouts as the YellowJackets earned six points towards the ASC standings last week. The Lake Jackson, Texas native recorded four saves each in a 2-0 win over Belhaven and 5-0 victory against Louisiana College to tie a single-season school record with five shutouts this season.

LeTourneau will close out the regular-season this weekend on the road starting Thursday night at the University of Texas-Dallas.

VOLLEYBALL

PINEVILLE, LA – The LeTourneau University volleyball team would lead from the start and never look back in a 3-0 sweep of host Louisiana College in an American Southwest Conference match at H.O. West Fieldhouse in Pineville, Louisiana on Saturday, October 21.

LETU improves to 10-19 overall and 4-11 in the ASC with the victory after winning their third straight game to finish the week with a 3-1 overall record.

A quick start to the match saw the YellowJackets win the first three points of the set and jump out to an early 8-4 lead and manage to build their lead to 12-7. The Wildcats would fight back to pull within a single point at 14-13 and force a LeTourneau timeout, but a 5-1 run by LETU would push the lead back out to 19-14 following a kill by Lauren Egby-McNeal. Looking to close out the set, LeTourneau would take their largest lead of the game at 23-17 and go on to claim the set by a final score of 25-20.

Louisiana College would manage to keep things a tad closer in the second set as the Wildcats managed to take an early lead before the two squads would trade points. Trailing 13-10, they would ask for their first timeout of the game, but it would do no good as LC would extend their lead to 15-11. The YellowJackets finally found their offensive touch midway through the set to battle back and tie the match at 17-17 and force an LC timeout before scoring five of the next six points out of the timeout. Louisiana College would make one last push to close the gap before LETU would claim a 25-21 set victory.

LeTourneau would have a harder time getting Louisiana College to relinquish the lead in the third set as the Wildcats would stake early leads of 5-3 and 9-7 before taking a 13-8 lead on a kill by Jaslyn Bright. Freshman Torie Langston would manage to bring LETU back to tie the match at 14-14 with six straight points starting with a kill and then five points while at the service line. The set would become deadlocked again at 17-17 before three consecutive points by LeTourneau gave the YellowJackets some breathing room at 20-17.

The lead would get extended to 23-19 in favor of LeTourneau and just two points away from winning the match when LC would score three straight points to close the gap to 23-22. Two of the final three points ended up going in favor of LeTourneau however, as the YellowJackets closed out the match with a 25-23 set win to sweep their fifth game of the year.

LETU outhit Louisiana College .231-.185 in the match while forcing the Wildcats into 12 attack errors. A 9-6 advantage in service aces would go in favor of LeTourneau while LC collected five blocks compared to two for the YellowJackets.

Senior Elyse Wright led all players in the match with 13 kills while Hailey Matthews had a double-double with 12 kills and 18 digs. Cam Taylor would also add a double-double with 19 set assists and 16 digs while Langston (3), Matthews (2), and Audrey Galindo (2) all recorded multiple service aces.

The final week of the regular season will start on Tuesday, October 24th for the YellowJackets when they play their ASC finale at the University of Texas-Dallas. The first serve in Richardson is 7:00 p.m.

 

JACKSON, Miss. – The YellowJackets avenged a five-set loss from earlier this season. The LeTourneau University volleyball team picked up a four-set win over Belhaven University before sweeping Mississippi University for Women at the Belhaven Univerisity Triangular in Jackson, Mississippi on Friday, October 20.

The pair of wins moves the YellowJackets to 9-18 overall while the victory over the Blazers to 3-11 overall in the American Southwest Conference.

LETU came out swinging in the first set, hitting .200 while holding BU to just a .029 attack percentage and six attack errors. Freshman Hailey Matthews led the way in the opening set, recording seven of LeTourneau’s 12 kills. Belhaven held an early lead in the game at 4-2 and again at 7-5 before the YellowJackets would fight back to tie the match at seven. Ties would still be at 9-9 and 11-11 as the most significant lead either team could find was three points. LeTourneau would start to pull away late in the set, scoring five straight points to take a 20-14 lead while grabbing ten of the final 13 points to make the first set 25-17.

The second set would have a familiar feel to it as the YellowJackets once again put themselves in an early hole before digging out of it to tie the game at 10-10 on a Savanna Stutts service ace. Stutts would record four service aces as part of a 7-0 run to give LETU their first lead of the set as things would become a back and forth affair from that point forward. Points would be traded back and forth with two points becoming the most abundant lead held from past the 10-10 deadlock with Belhaven taking a 22-20 lead before giving the lead right back to LETU at 23-22. Extra points would be needed in the set as the YellowJackets managed to outlast the Blazers to win the game 27-25.

Playing from behind would finally catch up to LETU in the third set as Belhaven would take advantage of an early lead. After a timeout by LeTourneau with the score 9-4 in favor of Belhaven, LeTourneau would try and stick around by keeping within four points at 13-9, but four of the next five points would go in favor of Belhaven as the Blazers would claim the set by a score of 25-18.

LeTourneau would finally find themselves playing with the lead in the fourth set of attack errors by Belhaven allowed LETU to jump out to a 4-1 lead and never look back. Belhaven would pull within two at 6-4 before seven straight points by the YellowJackets with Cam Taylor at the service line gave LeTourneau a 13-4 lead. LETU would take their largest lead of the set at 18-8 and eventually pull out a 25-20 set victory to make the match three games to one.

Senior Elyse Wright led the way with 17 kills in the match followed by Matthews who had 15 kills to go along with nine digs. Audrey Galindo had a game-high 18 digs while Korissa White dished out 16 assists.

The second match would be all LeTourneau from the start as MUW would end up hitting -.247 for the game compared to a season-high .328 for LeTourneau. After scoring the first five points of the match, LETU would go on a 10-2 run to open up a 15-2 lead before the Owls would finally start to pick up some points. The YellowJackets would keep their foot on the pedal and run away with a 25-11 set victory that included six service aces by LETU.

LeTourneau would nearly hold Mississippi Women scoreless in the second set, scoring the first 23 points of the match with White at the service line. MUW would score three of the final four of the game, but a kill by sophomore Mikayla Thomas put the cap on a 25-4 set victory for the YellowJackets who hit .500 in the set with ten kills and only two attack errors.

LETU would put the match away in the third set by jumping out to another double-digit lead early on and keeping the pressure on the Owls, as 16-10 would be the closest that MUW would be able to get back. Six of the final seven points and eight of the last 11 went to LeTourneau after Mississippi Women closed within six following three straight points.

A balanced effort in the second match saw no YellowJacket record more than five kills with Matthews leading all players with five. White would once again lead the YellowJackets in set assists with 13 while Torie Langston, along with Lauren Egby-McNeal, Thomas, and Stutts each recorded four kills.

LeTourneau will look to carry the momentum over to tomorrow’s American Southwest Conference road match at Louisiana College in the second-ever meeting between the two schools. LETU took a four-set home victory earlier this year against the Wildcats, who are in their first year of varsity competition. The first serve is 2:00 p.m. in Pineville, Louisiana.

SOCCER

RICHARDSON, Texas – Scoring one goal in a pair of games last week, LeTourneau University men’s soccer junior forward David Trost has been named American Southwest Conference Co-Offensive Player of the Week for his performance in the eighth week of the season.

Trost would score the game-tying goal with 12 minutes left in regulation against Belhaven University on Thursday night and gave the YellowJackets an insurance goal in a 2-0 victory over Louisiana College on Friday night. The goals were the first two of the season for the Stillwater, Oklahoma native.

University of Texas-Tyler midfielder Lucas Pereira would split the honors with trust after scoring his ninth goal of the season in a 2-0 win against Ozarks. The score proved to be the game-winning goal of the contest.

LETU will be on the road this week for two matches, starting Thursday night at 7:30 P.M. with an American Southwest Conference match at Texas-Dallas.

 

LONGVIEW, Texas – Senior Guillermo Torres would strike a shot for a goal just 15 minutes into the game as the LeTourneau University men’s soccer team added a second goal in the second half while shutting out Louisiana College in a 2-0 victory at the Joyce Family Athletic Village on Friday, October 20.

The win gives the YellowJackets three points towards the American Southwest Conference standings while improving to 3-7-4 overall and 3-4-2 in the ASC.

LETU would control the pace of the game from the start as short quick passes would put the YellowJackets in a position to move the ball down the field and into the attacking third early in the opening minutes. Torres would let off a shot in minute three that would force a save by Wildcat goalie Nathan Gautreaux before Eduardo Barron found a blast that would sail right of the goal.

In the 15th minute, Varney Carter would find himself just outside the top of the box and an open Torres on the left third of the box when a pass would go where Torres would take a one-touch shot and fire it far post that would go right past Gautreaux to make the score 1-0.

The YellowJackets would take the momentum from putting in an early goal and keep pushing despite counterattacks from Louisiana College that saw the Wildcats put a shot off the post following a corner kick at the 21:24 mark. LeTourneau would end up putting up 12 shots in the first half en route to putting four shots on goal while outshooting LC 12-4 in the opening 45 minutes of play.

LETU took the start of the second half to continue to put pressure on Louisiana College by putting up the first five shots of the half with all five shots coming in the first 12 minutes. Following an offsides call against the YellowJackets, LETU would get possession back and earn a corner kick that would be taken by Barron. Barron put the ball across the box to the far post where it would get knocked back to the near post where a waiting David Trost managed to get a foot on the ball and hit it into the back of the net and double up the YellowJacket lead.

Louisiana College would keep fighting and see a shot hit the crossbar at the 59:56 mark following a defensive breakdown by LETU that allowed for an open run. Following the near goal by the Wildcats, LeTourneau would tighten up their back line while continuing to find openings and attack when possible, outshooting the Wildcats 5-2 in the final 30 minutes of action.

Senior goalkeeper Miguel Cabrera picked up his second shutout of the year by going the distance in net, making one save while facing a total of eight shots. LETU held an advantage in every statistical category of the night, outshooting LC by a total of 22-8 while holding a 7-1 lead in shots on goal and a 7-4 edge in corner kicks.

Nine YellowJackets would record shots in the game, with Torres leading the way with four total shots and three shots on goal. David Sanchez, Barron, Carter, and Trost each had three shots in the game.

A two-game weekend road swing will conclude the regular-season for LeTourneau, starting Thursday evening at the University of Texas-Dallas. Kickoff will be at 7:30 p.m. in Richardson on October 26.
Matt Kinney
Sports Information Director