The No. 4 Blinn College volleyball team dropped its Region 14 opener to No. 14 Tyler Junior College 25-23, 19-25, 25-16, 25-19 on Tuesday at the Kruse Center in Brenham, Texas.
The Buccaneers moved to 13-2 overall and 0-1 in Region 14.
Blinn hit .229 as a team, including a .367 clip in the second set and .286 in the third. Freshman setter Skyler Herring recorded 21 assists and added 10 digs.
Asante and sophomore libero/defensive specialist Natalia Silva each recorded three of Blinn's eight service aces. Silva led the Bucs with 11 digs.
Blinn finished with nine total blocks, including eight block assists and five solo blocks.
Tyler used a strong service game and varied its serving depths throughout the match to keep the Bucs out of system. Blinn countered in the second set with strong hitting to even the match.
"Tyler served it tough. They changed the depths on us, so they served it well and they played well," Blinn head coach Gregg Whitis said. "We were able to handle that a little bit and get a lead on them in the second set and apply some pressure on them, but we couldn't keep that going in the third and fourth sets."
Whitis said Tyler's service pressure affected all six of Blinn's rotations.
"We were under pressure in all six rotations from their servers," he said. "They just did a really good job against us from the service line."
The Bucs battled back from an early deficit in the opening set before falling just short and later used a strong stretch in the second set to even the match.
"We spurted in the back half of the second set to give ourselves a lead, but the first half of that set was us tangling with them evenly," Whitis said.
Tyler regained momentum in the third set before closing out the match in the fourth.
"Credit to Tyler," Whitis said. "They're hot right now, and they deserved to win."
Blinn returns to action Thursday when it opens play in its final regular-season tournament of the fall against Amarillo College at 6 p.m. in Amarillo, Texas.
Blinn has competed in intercollegiate athletics since 1903 and captured 53 national championships since 1987.
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