LeTourneau University – Sports

 

LeTourneau Men’s Golf Finish Tied For Fifth At Alamo City Classic

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Playing in a rain-shortened, one-day tournament, the LeTourneau University men’s golf team braved the elements of the cold and rain to finish tied for fifth overall at the Alamo City Classic hosted by Trinity University at the Quarry Golf Club in San Antonio, Texas on Tuesday, October 16.

Finishing with an 18-hole team score of 318, LETU finished tied with Texas Lutheran University and was seven shots back of host Trinity University in fourth place. Winning the team title was Houston University-Victoria of the NAIA with a 305, followed by Concordia University Texas (308) and the University of Dallas (310).

Leading the YellowJackets on the original scoreboard was junior Reed Fisher who would turn in a five-over 76 on the 6,703-yard, Par-71 course with 13 pars and five bogeys. Freshman Alex Koll would play his opening nine holes of the tournament at two-under-par before finishing his round with a seven-over 78 to finish tied for 16th while Wes Nolen and Buster Byrnes finished tied for 30th overall after shooting 82. Cory Gillespie was LETU’s other finisher on the course, carding an 84 to finish in a tie for 35th.

The YellowJackets will have teams in separate locations their next time out, with a team at the Hardin-Simmons Fall Intercollegiate at Diamondback Golf Course in Abilene, Texas as well as a team at the Tyler Junior College Pine Springs Invitational in Tyler, Texas. Both meets will get underway on Monday, October 22 and conclude on Tuesday, October 23 to finish the fall portion of the 2018-19 schedule for LeTourneau.

 

 

Alexis Segura Named ASC Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Week

RICHARDSON, Texas – For the second time in her career, LeTourneau University women’s track and field athlete Alexis Segura has been named American Southwest Conference Women’s Cross Country Runner of the Week for her performance during the week of October 8-14.

Segura set a new career-best time by finishing third at the East Texas Shootout hosted by Texas A&M-Commerce. Her time of 22:38.20 is over 48 seconds better than her 6K winning time of 23:26.40 which was the previous best 6K mark in the ASC and was eight seconds off the winning pace at the meet set by Martha Brown of NCAA Division II’s Dallas Baptist University.

A native of Austin, Texas, Segura is the daughter of Jennifer Segura and is a kinesiology-sport management major at LeTourneau University.

 

 

LeTourneau Men’s Soccer Handed 3-1 Sunday Defeat Against Ozarks

LONGVIEW, Texas – Jumping out to a 1-0 lead moments before halftime, the LeTourneau University men’s soccer team would see the University of the Ozarks put up three goals in the final 40 minutes of action to fall by a final score of 3-1 on a rare Sunday afternoon clash at Spring Hill High School in Longview, Texas.

The loss leaves LETU with a 5-6-1 overall record and 4-3 mark in the American Southwest Conference with four matches to play while the Eagles improved to 5-7-2 overall and 4-4-1 in the ASC.

How It Happened:

Playing on an artificial turf surface for the first time this season, LETU would see Ozarks take possession from the opening whistle and pressure the YellowJacket defense while earning four corner kicks in the opening six minutes.

The last of the four corner kicks would lead to a shot for the Eagles that would just miss left of the goal, but keep LeTourneau in the defensive third.

With the game still scoreless in the 13th minute, Ozarks would put up a shot from the left side of the 18-yard box to the far post but see a diving save from C.J. Leyva keep the score deadlocked at zero.

Offense for both teams stalled following the save by Leyva, with both the Eagles and YellowJackets trading possession in the middle third of the field before LETU would earn a corner kick in the 28th minute.

Sophomore Eric Smith would manage to put up a pair of headers for Letourneau that would miss high and wide left, but give the YellowJackets momentum from putting pressure on the Eagles after having to pick and choose their moments to press early on.
LETU would get off two more shots that would be blocked or saved by Ozarks before a foul in the final minute of the first half on the far right sideline of the field gave the YellowJackets one last chance before the break.

With Luis De La Torre taking the free kick, the ball would be sent in to the far post just in front of the goal line to a waiting David Pinilla who would manage to get just enough of his body on the ball and into the net before the Eagle keeper could respond three seconds before halftime.

Having just given up a goal before intermission, Ozarks would come out and attack the LETU defensive third in the opening minutes of the second half in similar fashion to the first half.
Earning a throw-in, UO would utilize the out-of-bounds line to make a run on the throw in before Spence Jean Baptiste would put a pass across the box into a breaking Eagle attacker who would beat Leyva to the far post to tie the game at 1-1.

LeTourneau would attempt to respond with pressure of their own after conceding the game-tying goal, putting up a trio of shots from Christian Hunter and a fourth coming from De La Torre that would force a pair of saves from UO’s Logan Valestin.

Having turned away yet another Eagle shot at the 73 minute mark, Leyva would not be as fortunate in the 81st minute as another throw-in set piece by Ozarks would be headed twice to an open player at the near post with no YellowJacket defense as the Eagles took a 2-1 lead with just over nine minutes to go.

Not quite done with the scoring, Ozarks would re-gain possession in the 83rd minute and send a pass in from the midfield to the left side of the field and back across to an open player that would beat Leyva in a one-on-one situation before he could respond to tack on a third goal.

Facing a two-goal deficit and time running short, LeTourneau managed to get only one more opportunity to put a shot on goal that would be turned away as the Eagles held on for the victory.

Key Stats:

LETU would outshoot UO by a final tally of 14-13, and hold a 7-6 advantage in shots on goal, but see the Eagles turn away six of the seven shots on goal.

After conceding four corner kicks in the opening minutes of the game, LeTourneau would not allow the Eagles to take another corner kick in the final 83 minutes of the game while earning two in each half to finish the game at four each.

Hunter and Smith led the YellowJackets with three shots apiece while Pinilla’s goal was his first of the season.

What’s Next?

LETU heads into their final regular-season road trip of the season starting on Thursday, October 18 at Louisiana College in Pineville, LA. The match between the YellowJackets and Wildcats will kick off at 7:30 p.m. from Wildcat Field.

 

 

LeTourneau Volleyball Falls Twice At ASC Crossover In Tyler

TYLER, Texas – Looking to gain momentum heading into the final two weeks of the regular season, the LeTourneau University volleyball team fell in straight sets to Howard Payne University and number 24 nationally-ranked the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor at the American Southwest Conference Crossover Tournament held at the Herrington Patriot Center in Tyler, Texas on Saturday, October 13.

With three matches left in the regular-season, LETU is now 7-17 overall and 4-8 in the ASC.

How It Happened vs. Howard Payne:

An early start to the match would prove to play into the favor of Howard Payne as a 5-0 run would force a LeTourneau timeout before finally getting on the scoreboard with a kill from Natalie Connelly.

LETU continued to cut into the HPU lead and put the score at 5-3, but give Howard Payne a 7-2 run to extend their lead to 12-5.
The HPU lead would continue to grow in the set, getting to as many as nine at 19-10 and again at 20-11 as LeTourneau could not overcome the hole that was dug.

A back-and-forth start to the second set LETU and HPU trade leads before tying things up at 7-7 and again at 12-12.
HPU would then score two quick points before giving up a 3-0 run to LeTourneau who would take a 15-14 lead with another tie coming at 15-15.

Four of the next five points would then be scored by LETU to put the score at 19-16 before the lead grew to a set-high four points at 21-17.

A 4-1 Howard Payne run brought the set back within a single point at 22-21 as things would get tied again at 24-24 to force extra points.

LETU would trade points with HPU in the extra points, missing out on closing the set on set point on two separate occasions before seeing Howard Payne end the game by scoring four of the final five points to take a 29-27 set victory.

LeTourneau managed to open the third set by scoring five of the first eight points to take a 5-3 lead, but saw Howard Payne respond with a 6-1 run to claim a 9-6 lead.

Following an LETU timeout, LeTourneau would score two of the next three points to close within two at 10-8, but see Howard Payne go on a 3-0 run to push the lead back out to five at 13-8.
Battling their way back once again, LETU closed the HPU lead to just a single point at 18-17 heading into the final stretch of the set before seeing Howard Payne use a 4-0 run to put the edge back at five.

Despite scoring five of the final eight points, LeTourneau would be unable to close the gap enough as HPU’s lead would hold for a 25-22 victory to end the match.

Key Stats:

HPU used seven service aces and 10 blocks to come away with the victory as LeTourneau would record just five total blocks in the match.

Kianna Crow nearly missed out on a double-double, finishing with 13 kills and seven digs while Cam Taylor and Lexie Welton each recorded two service aces.

How It Happened vs. UMHB

Playing their second ranked opponent of the week, LETU once again would get off to a slow start as the Crusaders would score seven of the first eight points to jump out to an 8-1 lead before a Taylor kill managed to stop the run.

The side out would quickly be erased by Mary Hardin-Baylor as an 8-1 run put the YellowJackets in a 15-3 hole that would be too large to overcome in a 25-12 loss.

Looking to bounce back from the first-set loss, LeTourneau would manage to hold their own against the Cru in the opening stages to tie the set at 4-4 and 6-6.
UMHB would then use a 5-0 run that would be followed up by a 3-0 LETU run to put the score at 10-9 in favor of the Cru, with LeTourneau eventually managing to tie the set at 12-12.

Four of the next five points would be scored by Mary Hardin-Baylor to open up a 16-13 lead on the YellowJackets, but LeTourneau would not shy away as a 5-2 run capped off by a Mikayla Thomas kill tied the set for the final time at 18-18.

The rally and momentum for LETU would end there, however, as UMHB put together a 7-1 run that included the final five points of the set to pull away for a 25-19 victory.

Facing a 4-1 deficit in the third set, LETU would use a 4-0 run to take a 5-4 lead on the Cru as the YellowJackets looked to get back into the match with a set victory.

UMHB responded with four of the next five points to reclaim the lead at 8-6 before eventually pushing their lead to 11-7.
Following another kill from Thomas to give LETU the serve while facing an 11-8 deficit, UMHB managed to go on an 11-0 run to open up a commanding 22-8 lead as the Cru earned a 25-9 set victory.

Key Stats:

LETU would record 18 attack errors as the Cru managed to put up 10 blocks on the YellowJackets and hold a 4-1 advantage in service aces.
LETU would be led by Crow offensively, recording nine kills while junior Julie Smith had six kills and seven digs.
What’s Next?
The final home match of the 2018 season will take place on Tuesday, October 16th for LeTourneau when they play host to Texas-Dallas. The Comets are 15-7 overall and 10-1 in the ASC after winning three matches in the other ASC Crossover Tournament that they hosted in Richardson, Texas this weekend.

 

 

LeTourneau Women’s Soccer Wins Weather-Shortened Home Match

LONGVIEW, Texas – Scoring two goals in the final 10 minutes before halftime, the LeTourneau University women’s soccer team earned a rain-shortened 3-1 win over the University of the Ozarks at the LETU Soccer Field in Longview, Texas on Saturday, October 13.

The game was called with 1:32 remaining in the second half due to lightning in the area, allowing the YellowJackets to improve to 8-4-1 overall and 4-3-0 in the American Southwest Conference. Ozarks slipped to 4-7-2 overall and 2-6-1 in the ASC following the defeat.

How It Happened:

Turning defense into offense, LETU forward Reagan Sandford would pressure the Eagles deep in their defensive third before causing a turnover and beating the keeper to the far post to give LeTourneau the lead in the 9th minute.

Ozarks responded with a pair of shots in the following minutes, forcing one save from Mackenzie Wilbanks before seeing the other shot go wide right.

The Eagle pressure would continue on the LETU defense, as possession would stay with Ozarks resulting in a YellowJacket foul just outside the 18-yard box for a free kick opportunity.

UO would make the most of their opportunity by placing a shot off the free kick over the LeTourneau wall and just under the crossbar to tie the game at 1-1 with only under 12 minutes left in the first half.

No time would be wasted by the YellowJackets off the restart of play as Kara Gipson would fire a shot that would be turned away by the Ozarks keeper but land right in front of Kelli Sonnier who would power home her third goal of the year to give LETU a 2-1 lead 45 seconds later.

It wouldn’t be the last of the scoring attack for LeTourneau in the first half as a corner kick by Gipson would be headed by Lexi Funk right in front of the goal line to Kristen Wunder to knocked in a third goal.

Not many opportunities would be found in the opening minutes of the second half as each team would let off a pair of shots that would force saves.

The Ozarks attack would continue to attempt to cut into the two-goal deficit, but time and time again be turned away by the LETU defense as opportunities would continue to be limited.

As things began to wind into the final minutes of the match, a light rain would start to fall as the game would eventually be stopped due to lightning.

Since the game would reach a reasonable point of conclusion (70 minutes), the match would go final at that point.

Key Stats:

After being outshot by a 9-6 margin in the first half, LETU would manage to fire off nine shots while allowing just three to the Eagles to hold a 15-12 advantage in the match.
Saves would be deadlocked at 7-7, with LeTourneau edging Ozarks 5-4 in corner kicks.
Playing all 88:28 in net, Wilbanks improved to 5-4-1 and had not allowed more than one goal in any of her past three matches between the pipes.

What’s Next?

LETU will play their non-conference finale on Tuesday, October 16 at home against Austin College at 7:00 pm. The ‘Roos last played on Sunday, October 7 with a 3-1 loss at Johnson and Wales (Denver) and are 0-11 overall.
…

 

 

LeTourneau Men’s Cross Country Takes Fourth In Abilene At Bill Libby Invitational

ABILENE, Texas – Competing for the third time in the past four weeks, the LeTourneau University men’s cross country team would use a pair of top-15 finishes to finish in fourth place at the nine-team Bill Libby Invitational hosted by McMurry University in Abilene, Texas on Saturday, October 13.

Overall, LETU finished with 99 points, just 12 points back of third-place East Texas Baptist University. Western Texas College would win the meet with 38 points, followed by Texas-Dallas in second with 48 points.

LETU’s top finisher was sophomore Lorien Nightingale who took eighth place with a time of 32:29.40 while Michael Field took 12th with a time of 32:49.60. Earning a 20th-place finish was junior Wesley Anderson with a time of 34:05.20 while Jared Rose was just four spots back in 24th (34:56.90). Finishing 39th overall was Nathan Glastetter with a time of 36:12.40 while Ethan Stubblefield (36.41.70) and Daniel Lopez (36:44.20) finished back-to-back in 42nd and 43rd place overall. Matt Nusser would also compete for the YellowJackets, turning in a time of 37:51.10 for 48th place.

Saturday’s race served as the final race for LETU before the 2018 American Southwest Conference Championships, which will take place on Saturday, October 27. The Championship meet will be hosted by McMurry University in Abilene, Texas.

 

 

LeTourneau Women’s Cross Country Led By Logan Parish at Bill Libby Invitational

ABILENE, Texas – Racing in their second consecutive 6K race in preparation for the 2018 American Southwest Conference Championships, the LeTourneau University women’s cross country team finished in fourth place at the eight-team Bill Libby Invitational hosted by McMurry University in Abilene, Texas on Saturday, October 13.

As a team, LETU finished with 100 total points, beating out three ASC schools (Louisiana College, Concordia Texas, and Sul Ross State). Host McMurry University won the team title with 36 points, followed by Texas-Dallas (58 points) and East Texas Baptist University (88 points) rounding out the top three team scores.

Earning her third top-10 finish of the season, freshman Logan Parish finished in 10th with a time of 28:19.60 to lead LeTourneau while McKenzie Craycraft took 17th with a time of 29:45. Coming in 24th place overall was senior Bridey Davis with a time of 31:00.10 while Julianne Hood came in 30th place with a time of 31:54.10 to round out the YellowJacket team score. Also running as individuals for LeTourneau was Kali Carter with a time of 32:22.60 (33rd) and Allison Fuller (35th) with a time of 32:29.90 while Bari Schunicht posted a time of 39:59.30 to finish 56th.

LETU will now have a week off before heading back to Abilene to run in the 2018 ASC Championship meet on Saturday, October 27. The championship meet will take place on the same course that the YellowJackets ran today.

 

 

LeTourneau Volleyball Downed By Concordia Texas At ASC Crossover

TYLER, Texas – Heading just up the road to take part in the second American Southwest Conference Crossover tournament of the year, the LeTourneau University volleyball team would fall in three sets to Concordia University Texas at the Herrington Patriot Center in Tyler, Texas on Friday, October 12.

Scores of the match were 25-10, 25-19, and 25-16 in favor of the Tornadoes as LETU falls to 7-15 overall and 4-6 in the ASC. Concordia picked up their 13th win of the year to move to 13-8 overall and 7-3 in the ASC with the win.

How It Happened:

Holding their own early on, the YellowJackets would trade points with Concordia in the opening stages of the first set as neither team would secure a lead of more than a point in the opening 10 points of the match.

With LETU holding onto a 5-4 lead, the Tornadoes would use an 11-1 run to claim the lead for good in the set after taking a 15-6 lead.
LeTourneau would not allow a large Concordia run to derail the second set as the YellowJackets managed to score four of the first six points before using a 4-0 spurt to break open a 4-3 lead and claim their largest lead of the match at 8-3.

CTX would manage to fight their way back and tie the match at 10-10 before seeing LETU score three quick points capped off by a Lauren Egby-McNeal kill.

The second set then became a game of short runs as Concordia would score three straight points to re-tie the set at 13-13 and use a 3-0 run just a few points later to take the lead at 16-15.
LeTourneau would then tie the match at 16-16 after calling a timeout, but give up a 4-0 run to the Tornadoes who would open up a 20-16 lead before seeing the YellowJackets close within two at 21-19.

Despite the effort, the two-point deficit would be all the closer that LETU could get in the set as Concordia would end things on a 4-0 run to hang on for a 25-19 set victory and go up two sets to zero in the match.

Having avoided a slow start in each of the first two sets, LeTourneau could not get any offense going to start the third set as Concordia would jump out to a 4-0 lead before the YellowJackets would get on the board.

Needing to battle their way back, LETU would pull within one at 6-5, but see a 3-0 Concordia run push things back to a 9-5 deficit before using a 3-0 run of their own to put the score at 9-8 in favor of the Tornadoes.

It would then be an 8-1 run for CTX that would break open the set as the YellowJackets would be forced to call a timeout to try and regroup while facing a 17-9 deficit and hanging on to one last bit of hope.

Out of the timeout, LETU would manage to score four of the next six points and cut the Concordia lead down to 19-13, but it would ultimately not be enough as the lead would prove to be too big to overcome.

Key Stats:

The Tornadoes would use an efficient .259 attack percentage to best the YellowJackets, who would hit only .073 in the match.
Another key for Concordia in the victory would be a 10-2 advantage in service aces, as the YellowJackets would be unable to overcome the discrepancy despite an 8-6 lead in blocks.
Junior Mikayla Thomas would be in on six of LETU’s eight blocks to lead the YellowJackets defensively, while freshman Kianna Crow had a team-high nine kills. Sophomore Cam Taylor would provide a team-best 11 assists.

What’s Next?

Two more matches remain for LETU in the ASC Crossover Tournament, with both events taking place on Saturday, October 13. LeTourneau will take on Howard Payne University at 10:00 am before closing out the crossover tournament with a 4:00 pm match against number 24 nationally-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor.

 

 

Alexis Segura Sets Career Mark, Finishes Third At Texas A&M-Commerce

COMMERCE, Texas – Competing as an individual so that she could play soccer with the LeTourneau University women’s soccer team tomorrow afternoon, LeTourneau University women’s cross country runner Alexis Segura set a new 6K career-best time to finish third at the Texas A&M-Commerce East Texas Shootout at Centennial Park in Commerce, Texas on Friday, October 12.

Segura finished the race with a time of 22:38.20, just eight seconds off the winning pace set by Martha Brown of Dallas Baptist University. The time is over 48 seconds better than her 6K winning time of 23:26.40 at the East Texas Baptist University Invitational last Saturday, and eclipsed her old career record of 22:48.80 which was set at the NCAA Division III South/Southeast Regional last November.

Both the LETU men’s and women’s cross country team will be in action tomorrow morning at the McMurry University Bill Libby Invitational in Abilene, Texas.

Matt Kinney
Sports Information Director
Office: 903-233-3735