SAN ANTONIO, Texas – It was a tough opening day of action for the Lamar University volleyball team Friday afternoon at the Roadrunner Classic in San Antonio. The Cardinals lost to tournament-host UTSA, 3-0 (25-12, 25-23, 25-14) in the opening match, and dropped a 3-0 decision (25-23, 25-20, 25-18) to Tarleton State in the afternoon match.
 
The Cardinals recorded a .141 attack percentage for the first match recording 30 kills on 99 swings but had 16 attack errors. Lamar also stopped six UTSA attempts at the next. UTSA ended the match with 50 kills (.370) on 100 swings with 13 errors. They also recorded seven blocks.
 
After being close early, the Roadrunners rattled off an 11-4 run to build a nine-point lead and never look back in the opening set. The second set was a different story as UTSA jumped out to a five-point lead early in the set but the Cardinals fought to keep things close making a late surge. The Cardinals rattled off an 8-2 run late to take a slim one-point lead, 22-21, before UTSA rallied off the final five serves to take a 2-0 set lead. Unfortunately, the Cardinals ran out of steam in the third set as their hosts pulled away for the final score.
 
Lamar recorded 33 kills on 103 attacks in the second match with 14 errors (.184), the same number of errors as the Texans, but Tarleton walked away with 16 more kills on the day. Big Red doubled up Tarleton in terms of blocks, 6-3, and the two teams were even with four service aces.
 
The first two sets were extremely close with the Cardinals holding a late lead in the opening set and rallying to make things tight in the second. Unfortunately, LU was unable to pull out the victory in either set and the Texans closed the match out in the third.
 
Lyric Jordan led the Cardinals with 10 kills and four blocks in the first match – finishing the day with 16 total kills and six blocks, while freshman Gracie Cassidy had a team-high 10 kills and four rejections in the second match. She ended the day with 14 kills and eight blocks.
 
The Cardinals return to action Saturday to close out the tournament with a noon match against Delaware.