TEXARKANA, Texas – The fourth-seeded Louisiana Christian University volleyball team set a new school record with its sixth-straight win by sweeping the fifth-seeded Southwest Mustangs in the first round of the 2026 Red River Athletic Conference Volleyball Championship Tournament, but saw its season end in the semifinal round in a straight-sets loss to the top-seed and host, Texas A&M Texarkana Eagles, Friday at the Patterson Student Center.
Louisiana Christian (11-20) answered an early challenge in the opening set after Southwest (4-17) turned a 6-3 deficit into a 9-6 lead. The Wildcats scored nine consecutive points, fueled by three
Alanah Dugar kills and a
Shanoa Mitch ace, to move ahead 15-9.
Kourtlyn Smith delivered the set-ending kill as LCU finished the frame with 16 kills and a .433 hitting percentage. In the second set,
Joie Goodwin broke a 10-10 tie with a kill and later supplied the final kill of the 25-15 victory.
USW trimmed LCU's third-set lead from 12-7 to 12-10 before a Mustang attack error and
Holly Rowe's solo block restored a four-point advantage. Dugar served consecutive aces during a stretch that pushed the lead to 18-11. After Southwest closed within 22-17, Dugar put away consecutive kills before
Emma Cother and
Mallory Wills combined on the match-ending block.
Dugar led the opening-match attack with 10 kills on .450 hitting, two aces and seven digs. Cother contributed 34 assists, seven digs and five block assists. Smith added eight kills, Rowe had six and Wills recorded five without an attack error. Mitch and
Yadneli Molina each collected 10 digs as the Wildcats totaled six blocks and held Southwest to a .027 hitting percentage. LCU finished with 39 kills and hit .270 as the Wildcats won their sixth-straight match to advance to the semifinals, breaking the program record of five-straight wins.
In the semifinals, LCU fell 3-0 (25-18, 25-11, 25-16) to the 2026 RRAC regular season champion Texas A&M Texarkana Eagles. Molina's ace brought the Wildcats within 9-8 in the first set, and a
Kylie Elmore ace later cut the deficit to 14-13. The Eagles answered with three straight points and closed the set on an ace. TAMUT built a 14-3 advantage in the second set and kept the Wildcats at bay en route to a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Wildcats opened the third set with a 6-1 lead following consecutive Rowe kills. After the Eagles tied it at 6-6, LCU regained a 12-9 advantage. Texas A&M Texarkana scored four straight points before Dugar tied the set at 13-13 with a kill. The Eagles then pulled away with six consecutive points. Smith saved a match point with a kill before the final point was achieved.
Smith led LCU in the semifinal with seven kills and a block assist. Rowe added five kills, while Dugar and Wills each had four. Cother finished with 21 assists, two aces and five digs, and Molina led the defense with eight digs. The Wildcats hit .069 with 23 kills against an Eagles attack that produced 42 kills on .348 hitting and 11 aces.
