AUSTIN, Texas – St. Edward's University Volleyball dropped its games to Southern Nazarene (3-0) and Tiffin (3-1) on Friday at the Hilltopper Classic, falling to 1-2 on the season. However, the level of play from the Hilltopper underclassmen provided a silver lining.
 
St. Edward's played a total of nine freshmen who combined for 53 of the team's 79 kills in the two matches. Sophomore outside-hitter KATIE MARTIN led all Hilltoppers with a combined 23 kills and an attacking percentage of .400 in the second contest.
 
"We all realize that this is the first time we are doing this together. It's a new system with new people, a new team, and we're fine," said head coach Mary DeJute. "It does not reset our goals. We're still getting use to playing together. We are not where we want to be but we are making progress, and it's a process."
 
In the day's first match against Southern Nazarene, the home team was unable to overcome early deficits in all three games, despite fighting back within three points of the lead each time, finishing with 25, 19, and 17 points, respectively. Alex McAndrew's seven kills highlighted the attack while MORGAN BECKHAM provided 13 digs on defense.
 
Against Tiffin, the Hilltoppers outhit the Dragons .260 to .254, but the visitors took the first two games 25-20 and 25-22. Game three was all Toppers as the home team won convincingly, 25-17. However, a strong presence at the net by Tiffin and ball-handling errors on offense would be St. Edward's demise in the match, falling 25-23 in game four.
 
Coach DeJute and her team close out the Hilltopper Classic on Saturday with a match at 4 p.m. against Franklin Pierce in the Recreation and Convocation Center. Fans can follow the live video and stats on www.GoHilltoppers.com, and get updates on Twitter at @SEUVball.