SAN ANGELO, Texas – Henderson State splits the opening round of matches at the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational. The Reddies took a 3-0 win over Huston-Tillotson in the first meeting between the two sides, while (RV) Angelo State got the better of HSU 3-0 in the day's final match.

Henderson State (1-1, 0-0) recorded 41 kills and had a .234 attack percentage against HT, who had 22 kills and a .049 attack percentage. Brae Denton led the attack in the first match with eight kills, followed by Violeta Mendoza Quintana and Christiane Uzoh, who had seven and five kills, respectively. In match number two, the Reddies had 29 kills on 122 attacks, led by Uzoh, with ten kills, while Angelo State tallied 40 kills on 120 attacks. 
 
Mendoza Quintana and Uzoh paced the attack on the outside with 15 kills each across the two matches, while Madison Hatt navigated the attack with 35 assists, including 23 against Huston-Tillotson. In addition, the Frisco, Texas native recorded her first double-double of the season against Angelo State, where she had 12 assists and 11 digs.

MATCH ONE: HENDERSON STATE 3, HUSTON-TILLOTSON 0
 
SET ONE
An action-packed opening set saw five lead changes and was tied up nine different times. Up 15-13, the Reddies went on an 8-0 run that featured kills from Hatt, Mendoza Quintana and Larkin Luke to give HSU a ten-point advantage, 23-13. Uzoh and Mendoza Quintana combined for the last two kills to seal a 25-15 set victory. Henderson held Huston-Tillotson to a -0.08 attack percentage while the Reddies hit for .174.
 
SET TWO
HSU set the tone early in set two, jumping ahead 9-3 and forcing Huston-Tillotson to use an early timeout. Freshman Kaylon Partain played a role in Henderson's fast start with back-to-back service aces to give the team a quick 3-0 lead. The Reddies kept on the front foot to extend their advantage to 20-6 after kills from Mia Sanchez, Brae Denton and Uzoh. HSU closed out a dominant 25-12 set with a .357 attack percentage.
 
SET THREE
Henderson kept up the momentum from the second set, racing ahead to an 8-1 lead after the Lady Rams opened the scoring. After the flurry of attacks by HSU, HT found its rhythm with a 5-1 run to dig into Henderson's advantage, 12-8.  
 
Huston-Tillotson would cut HSU's lead to one, 21-20, after a 4-0 run, but the Reddies were quick to respond with a 4-0 run of their own, featuring back-to-back service aces from Luke to win the set 25-20 and complete the sweep. 
 
MATCH TWO: (RV) ANGELO STATE 3, HENDERSON STATE 0
 
SET ONE
The Rambelles took the early lead in set one, 5-2, but the Reddies tied the set 6-6 after attacking errors by ASU. Angelo State held a slim advantage for most of the frame and would grow its lead to four, 20-16.
 
However, Henderson climbed back again to tie the frame 21-21 after kills from Denton, Mendoza Quintana and Uzoh. The set was deadlocked for the fifth time at 22-22, though the Rambelles would pull away with three straight points to take set one 25-22.  
 
SET TWO
Angelo State carried over the momentum from the end of set one into the second frame, taking an 8-2 lead. The Reddies' attack struggled to get going this set as the Rambelles grew their advantage to 17-7. In control, Angelo State would win the frame 25-14.
 
SET THREE
Similar to the first set, little separated the two teams in the opening exchanges of the third frame, with the score tied 4-4. The Reddies eventually took a five-point lead over the Rambelles after Sanchez and Uzoh combined for kills, 11-6. HSU kept the lead for most of the frame, but the Belles roared back to retake the lead 20-18. With the momentum on its side, ASU went on to take the final set, 25-20.

Henderson State (1-1, 0-0) returns to action tomorrow for the conclusion of the Kathleen Brasfield Invitational when the Reddies take on UT Permian Basin at 11 a.m., followed by Southwest (N.M.) at 3 p.m.