Box Score DAY ONE TOURNEY STATS

LYNCHBURG, VA --- The Howard women's volleyball team lost its first game at the Liberty University Invitational, dropping a 3-0 match to the host Flames on Friday afternoon at the Vines Center.

Although Howard players logged match-highs in several categories, including kills (12 by freshman Khaila Donaldson), digs (10 by senior Allyson Lods) and assists (31 by senior Stephanie Shultis), the Lady Bison were unable to consistently keep pressure on the Flames because of errors. Howard (2-3) committed nine more attack errors (27-18) and three more service errors (8-5) than Liberty (4-1); considering the Lady Bison lost the three sets by a total of 11 points, the team's mistakes proved even more costly.

Howard struggled against the host team out of the gate, surrendering the game's first 10 points to Liberty and trailing 15-5 late in the first set. The Lady Bison responded with a 10-5 run of their own to cut the Flames' lead down to five. Liberty would hold on to take the first set, 25-21.

In the second set, the Lady Bison rallied from four points down to take a 16-14 lead, only to see Liberty's lead extended back to four late as Howard conceded the set, 25-22.

Set three showed Howard's resiliency, as the team kept the game within three for the majority of the set and held a lead late (18-16) before folding for a 25-21 defeat.

The loss marked the first time this season that Howard reached 20+ points in defeat. That fact coupled with the closeness in attack percentage (.097 vs .130 for Liberty) show just how close the game truly was.

The team will continue its stay at the Liberty Invitational with a pair of games on Saturday, September 6 – an 11:30 a.m. matchup against UNC Greensboro and a 4:30 p.m. contest with Murray State.