Tulsa, Okla.— The women's volleyball team fell short in both matches today in the Tulsa Invitational, falling short to UTSA and Houston Baptist.

"We played two really good teams today," Commented Head Volleyball Coach Kendall Paulus.

UTSA defeated SIUE 3-1 with scores of 19-25, 18-25, 25-22 and 15-25

Leading the way for the Cougars was Rachel McDonald who tallied 11 kills in the game against UTSA. Also for the team, Kiana Fields had 5 blocks, Addie Sieber recorded 17 assists and Dylynn Otte had 20 digs.

 "UTSA beat us in the serve and pass battle, while we also had a tough time getting our offense going," Paulus added.

The team fell short in the second match of the day 3-1 with scores of 21-25, 25-17, 23-25 and 19-25.

McDonald led the Cougars in kills against Houston Baptist with 12, while Hope Everett added eight. Also for the team, Mallory Nicholson had 16 assists, Sieber tallied 11 assists and Jordyn Klein contributed 18 digs.

"We thought we had a good handle on the Houston Baptist game but needed a few more runs of points to keep the momentum going," Paulus continued. "It was great to see the team improve on areas we lacked in this morning."

The Cougars now move to 5-3 on the season. The team will wrap-up tournament play against Tulsa tomorrow at 1 p.m.