SHAWNEE, Okla. – The St. Edward's Hilltoppers volleyball team dropped its first two matches in the Oklahoma Baptist Fall Tournament, losing in four sets to Newman and in three sets to host OBU. 

Newman 3, St. Edward's 1 (25-21, 15-25, 25-23, 25-23)
The St. Edward's Hilltoppers volleyball team flashed its potential in a second-set victory, putting everything together in a display of clean volleyball for a 25-15 win, but fell short in the closing two sets with a pair of 25-23 defeats to lose 3-1. 

MAYA SMALLS continues her brilliant play, coming off a career-best performance against Edward Waters with 17 kills on a .250 clip against Newman. The senior right-side also added two solo blocks and three block assists to lead the Hilltopperswith 20.5 points. 

Small did most of the heavy lifting in a first set in which both teams played close until Newman broke through with a 6-0 run to take a 22-15 lead. The Hilltoppers cut the deficit to two at 22-20, but Newman's Riley Daugherty closed things out with two kills. Smalls had nine of her 17 kills on a .600 hitting percentage in the set. 

St. Edward's defense stifled Newman in the second set, grounding the Jets to a .053 hitting percentage. The Hilltopperblock was imposing up front, led by AUDREY QUESNEL, who recorded four of the Toppers' eight block assists with Newman recording nine attack errors to just 11 kills. 

The next two sets were played on near-even terms with a combined 19 ties and six lead changes in sets the Hilltoppersdropped 25-23. St. Edward's showcased its offensive promise in the fourth set with 15 kills but also committed 11 attack errors.

KYLIE LOQUERCIO added 13 kills but hit .044, and LOURDES GOMEZ had 10 kills on a .100 clip. SARAH KONOVODOFF led St. Edward's with 18 digs and ESTHER GRUSSING had 40 assists. 

Riley Daugherty led a balanced Newman attack with 13 kills and Ozioma Ajekwu and Abby Borough had 12 kills each. 

OBU 3, St. Edward's 0 (25-19, 25-15, 25-16)
St. Edward's attack struggled mightily, failing to crack the 20-point mark or a .100 hitting percentage in each of the three sets. 

Oklahoma Baptist featured a balanced attack with 41 total kills on a .252 hitting percentage. Five different players recorded five or more kills, led by Jill Leslie and Payton Rink scoring nine kills each. The attack was directed by OBU'sdual setters, Rylee Martin and Abrey Galt, who combined for 33 assists.

LOURDES GOMEZ led St. Edward's with eight kills on a .185 hitting percentage. HALLE SANDERS and MAYA SMALLS had seven kills each. 
The Hilltoppers committed 23 attack errors for a .055 hitting percentage and compounded those struggles with five service errors. 

St. Edward's falls to 0-6 with the losses. The Hilltoppers will face Arkansas Tech and Union tomorrow at 8:30 a.m. and 12:30 p.m.