KISSIMMEE, Fla. – McMurry University's volleyball team dropped its first two matches in pool play at the 2014 National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) National Championship Tournament. The War Hawks (21-11) were swept by both Grace College and Colorado Christian University at the Kissimmee Civic Center.
 
In the opening pool play match on Thursday, the War Hawks were swept by the tourney's No. 2-seeded team, Grace College (Ind.) by scores of 25-14, 25-23, 25-18. In the first set, the War Hawks never led as the Lancers (28-10) had control wire-to-wire.
 
In set two, McM looked to be rolling along, leading 17-10. Three-successive points by the Lancers elicited a time out from McM head coach Cammie Petree. Her team would get the next two points, moving ahead, 19-13. McM led 22-15, when six unanswered points by Grace cut the War Hawks' lead to 22-21. McMurry won the next point on a Jessica Cory kill, 23-21, but the Lancers scored the final four points of the match for the 25-23 win.
 
McMurry led set three early, 6-3, but six unanswered points by Grace gave it the lead it would not relinquish.  The War Hawks clawed to within four late – 22-18 – but would get no closer as the Lancers completed the shutout.
 
McM junior right-side hitter Catherine Heath had a total of seven kills to lead her team. Heath hit .222 for the match and also had one block.
 
Senior Kayla Hines and junior Kelsey Harkins each booked four kills. Hines also contributed four blocks, while Harkins had 11 digs.
 
Audrey Sanders' six blocks – all assists – topped McM in that category. Lauren Heathcote had four blocks and two kills.
 
 Jessica Tennis and Morgan Thomas each had 10 assists, with Tennis making 10 digs, as well.
 
The War Hawks struggled on the attack, hitting just .063 as a team. McM also made five serve errors and four ball-handling errors as a unit.
 
Next up in pool play was the Cougars of Colorado College, seeded No.3 in the NCCAA's, and a team that swept the War Hawks in the NCCAA regional tournament just two weeks ago. While McM gave CCU a tougher battle this time around, the result was still a 3-0 Cougars' victory (25-15, 25-15, 25-20).
 
Katy Headrick had seven kills in nine attempts – with no errors – for an amazing .778 attack percentage. Headrick also had an ace and a block on her ledger.
 
Sanders and Heath had six kills, apiece, and Hines added five. Hines also had two blocks.
 
Thomas and Tennis had 16 and 12 assists, respectively. Jessica Cory had 18 digs in the back row.
 
The tournament continues on Friday, with McM facing Oakland City College (Noon ET) in its final pool play bout. The teams will then begin single-elimination bracket play at 4 p.m. (ET).