Sterling, Kan.—In their first road matchup of the season, the Panhandle State volleyball team dropped a three-set match to Sterling College (25-16, 25-16, 25-21) Tuesday evening.

The Aggies got down early in set one, trailing 10-2 after a six-point spree by the Warriors. They pulled within four points of the lead (13-9) with the help of five errors by the home team, but were unable to edge any closer throughout the remainder of the set.

In set two, junior Kendra Butler brought down two straight blocks to give the Aggies a 2-0 lead off the serve, but consecutive kills by the Warriors tied things up at 2-2 inciting a good back-and-forth battle that persisted through most of the game. With the Aggies trailing by one point (15-14) and Sterling up to serve, the Warriors took seven straight points, leaving the Aggies with too large a deficit to overcome.

Sophomore Barbara Forman added the first point of set three for the Aggies, claiming a kill on first serve. Panhandle State owned a 7-3 lead after gaining four points in a row on three errors and a kill by junior Melody Ethley. The game was kept competitive through a 16-2 Aggie advantage. The Warriors than collected a six-point string on three kills and three attack errors by the Aggies. Panhandle fought back to claim a 20-19 lead, but were outscored 6-1 in the final three services.

Junior transfer Ruth Ard emerged as the team leader in scoring, taking 10.5 points on seven kills, two blocks and three block assists. Cailyn Berry led the game in assists with 18 and libero McKenna Clement came up with a team-high of 11 digs.

Head Coach Signe Coombs commented on the team performance stating, "Our middles did a good job of executing in serve receive and transition, but we have to be more efficient on offense across the board.  We are continuing to challenge our team mentally and physically in order to be able to play consistently throughout the entirety of a set and match."

The Aggies are back in Anchor D Arena this weekend with a tri-match against Oklahoma Wesleyan and SAC opponents University of Science and Arts and Mid-America Christian. Friday's three-game series begins at 3 p.m. as the Aggies open conference play against USAO. The Drovers then face Oklahoma Wesleyan at 5 p.m. followed by an Aggie Matchup against OWU at 7 p.m. On Saturday, the team takes on a Sooner Athletic Conference contest with MACU at Noon, with the Evangels closing out the event against OWU at 2 p.m. All games will offer free live stats and video streaming, with links available online at opsuaggies.com.