The Howard Payne University volleyball team opened up American Southwest Conference action with a 3-2 (17-25, 25-22, 22-25, 25-19, 15-11) win over ASC power Texas Lutheran University Wednesday.

After dropping the first set 17-25, the Lady Jackets battled back to take the second 25-22. In the second, HPU had their highest team attack pct of the match at .323.

The Lady Jackets lost a close one in the third set, 22-25, but again fought back to take the fourth 25-19. It was back and forth in the final fifth set with HPU making a push at the end to win 15-11 and take the match 3-2.

“Our team really had to fight through some things and I am proud of them,” said head HPU coach Ken Carver. “What we when through last week at the Virginia Wesleyan College tournament really helped us tonight.”

Tamike Heline, the reigning ASC West Hitter of the Week, led the Lady Jackets with 15 kills. She added 11 digs, three aces and a block. Hannah Hicks also had a great game with 9 kills and a .438 attack pct. Kristin Hammond and Megan Pick had 25 and 17 digs respectively.

TLU was led by Sarah Black with 17 kills followed by Jessica Stetler with 13. Manda Martin had 40 digs.

HPU improved to 4-1 overall and to 1-0 in the ASC West Division. TLU dropped to 0-2 and to 0-1 in the ASC West.

Howard Payne will travel to Conway, AR this weekend for the Hendrix College Tournament.