RICHARDSON, Texas – Despite posting more hits than LeTourneau in Friday’s second match, Centenary dropped three of four sets after dropping a 3-0 decision to Mary Hardin-Baylor (25-14, 25-19, 25-15) in the season opener at the UT Dallas Tournament.

Centenary falls to 0-2 on the young season and will finish the tournament Saturday with two contests against UT Dallas (12:30 p.m.) and Hardin-Simmons (3 p.m.). Both squads are 1-0 after identical 3-0 wins over Hendrix.

After dropping the first two sets to LeTourneau, 25-19 and 26-24, the Ladies rallied to inch closer at 2-1 with a 25-21 third-set win. LeTourneau closed the match with a 25-18 fourth-set triumph.

“It wasn’t the performance I was expecting,” head coach Jon Stenman said. “We didn’t perform like the team that has practiced the last three weeks. It was very surprising and disturbing at the same time. Hopefully we can remove the jitters and move forward. It surprised me that we came out as scared as we did.”

 Sophomore hitter Sarah Sumner smashed a match-high 11 kills, equaling LETU’s Jo Runnells’ tally, while freshmen hitter Sarah Irons posted nine kills with only a single error in 21 attacks for a .318 hitting mark.

Sumner and Irons paved the way for Centenary with 47 kills in the four-set loss, bettering LeTourneau’s 41.

In the first match against Mary Hardin-Baylor, Centenary’s youth was apparent. The Ladies posted a -.023 hitting mark, recording 20 kills and 22 errors in 88 attempts.

Nuttall topped the Ladies with a .400 mark with four kills and no errors while Brooke Bahlinger posted five kills in 21 attempts, both tops on the team charts in the season opener.

Jesi Wilcox, the Ladies only senior, recorded a match-high 30 digs in the loss to LeTourneau after posting in the debut.