By Nathan Canilao (@nathancanilao)- Spear Reporter
After a hard-fought five-set battle, the San Jose State (4-3, 0-0) women’s volleyball team fell to Loyola Marymount (4-3, 0-0) 3-2 on Saturday at Gersten Pavilion in Los Angeles.
Fifth-year outside hitter Haylee Nelson led all players with 15 kills and added nine digs. Senior outside hitter Amethyst Harper recorded 13 kills and 14 points.
The Spartans started the game off strong, winning the first two sets.
Despite having six service errors and five attack errors, the Spartans narrowly escaped with a 26-24 win due to their solid defensive play.
The Spartan offense picked up in the second set, which was their best of the matchup, as they recorded 10 kills and were stout on defense. Sophomore middle blocker Brooke Bryant made the set-winning kill to give SJSU the 25-19 set win.
However, the Spartans could not carry their momentum in the next two sets as LMU won the second and third sets 25-17 and 25-22. Their strong defensive play fell off as the sets went on, giving up 13 kills in the third and fourth sets.
In the game-deciding fifth set, the Spartans failed to get a stop when they needed to and lost 15-12.
The Spartans dropped their second straight game and fell to 4-3 on the season.
They will stay in Los Angeles for their next three games as they will compete in the Trojan Classic hosted by USC. Their first game will be against New Mexico State on Friday, Sept. 16 at 4:30 p.m.