Schreiner blows 2-0 lead, falls to Howard Payne in five sets

BROWNWOOD — Schreiner won the first two sets and led in each of the next three, but Howard Payne rallied for a 3-2 American Southwest Conference win Thursday at Brownwood Coliseum. Schreiner’s set scores were 25-19, 25-15, 21-25, 17-25 and 15-17.

Schreiner fell to 8-7 overall and 2-3 in the ASC.

The Mountaineers had the match in hand and let it get away three times. They led the third set 9-3 and lost 25-21. They led the fourth set 12-9 before Howard Payne scored eight straight points and won 25-17. They led the fifth set 7-1, then 12-9, before Howard Payne scored four in a row to go ahead 13-12 for the first time. Schreiner got back in front 15-14, but Howard Payne won the last three points of the match, ending it on a service ace by Londynn Whitworth.

Both teams had 46 kills, and neither hit well. Schreiner hit .113 (46 kills, 23 errors, 203 attempts) and Howard Payne .041 (46 kills, 37 errors, 218 attempts). The difference at the line was serving: Howard Payne had nine aces to Schreiner’s four, and Whitworth and Tara Bennett had three each. Schreiner also had more service errors, eight to six.

Schreiner hit .186 in the second set and no better than .111 in any other, including .091 in each of the third and fourth sets. Howard Payne hit negative in the first two sets (-.093 and -.022) and won three straight by hitting .174, .089 and .053 in the last three.

Schreiner leaders

Jesse Garner led Schreiner with 11 kills on a .258 clip, adding five blocks for a team-high 16.0 points. Emma Frye hit .353 with eight kills and two blocks for 10.0 points. Giana Hilliard had eight kills, an ace and two blocks for 11.0 points, and 20 digs, but she hit .083 on a match-high 48 attempts with four errors. Mackenzie Strban had seven kills at .103 on 29 attempts, Ashlyn Willburn added five kills at .222, and Lauren Monaco had four kills and four blocks for 8.0 points.

Harlie Gallaspy ran the offense with 22 assists, 11 digs and an ace, and Gaby Torres added 14 assists. Maleyci Soliz led the team with 21 digs, and Azalea De Leon had 13.

Howard Payne leaders

Bennett led all players with 12 kills at .209, three aces, 28 digs and 16.0 points. Sam Torres also had 12 kills, but with eight errors on 37 attempts for a .108 clip. Whitworth had seven kills and three aces for 12.0 points, and Kaylee Honc added six kills at .235. Emma Rosier ran the Howard Payne offense with 26 assists and 14 digs, and Jadyn White had 19 digs.

Box score

	Sets	K	E	TA	Pct	Ast	Ace	Dig	Pts
Schreiner	2	46	23	203	.113	43	4	92	63.0
Howard Payne	3	46	37	218	.041	41	9	97	58.0

What’s next

Schreiner returns home Tuesday to host Concordia (Texas) at 6 p.m. at Stephens Family Arena, then hosts Howard Payne on Oct. 15 at 6 p.m.