LUBBOCK, Texas — The Rip Griffin Center in Lubbock hosted the final day of the 2019 Chap Classic on Saturday and the Pittsburg State University Gorillas wrapped their non-conference schedule.

The Gorillas opened the day with a five-set thriller win over Black Hills State University. They won by set scores of 21-25, 25-21, 21-25, 25-21 and 15-10.
The second match was another five-set game that saw the Gorillas fall in a nail bitter late. The University of Texas Permian Basin Falcons won by set scores of 25-22, 22-25, 20-25, 25-13 and 15-13.

In the first set of the opening game, the Gorillas found themselves in a hole early at 11-4 and 14-6, however, they rallied back and pulled within one point at 20-19. That was not enough for the Gorillas to get a set win as the Yellow Jackets closed out the set on a 5-2 run for the 25-21 win. This pushed the Gorillas' set losing streak to seven straight.
That streak was snapped in the second set as Pitt State overcame another early Black Hills lead and won the second set by four 25-21. The third set was very similar as both teams attempted to recapture momentum. As it turned out the opening five points was the difference as the Yellow Jackets took the 25-21 win.

In the fourth set, the Gorillas survived a 10-3 scoring run by the Yellow Jackets to win 25-21. They Gorillas kept the momentum in their favor as they jumped out to an early lead and hung on to cap off the comeback win, 15-10.

Morgan Henning was the leading player for the Gorillas as she tallied 16 kills in the five sets.

In the second game, Pitt State dropped the opening set 25-22 before rebounding with an identical win in the second. The third set saw the Gorillas take a lead and never look back as they won 25-20. Down by a set, the Falcons of UTPB jumped out to an early lead with the help of an 8-0 run before dominating for the 25-13 lead.

In the final set, the Gorillas rallied late and pulled within one point but could not hold on.

Erika Ivkov led the way for the Gorillas with 15 kills while Meg Auten (12), Henning (10) and Hope White (10) all had double digit in kills. Brianna Richard posted 29 assists while Laura Willoughby had a team-high 19 digs.

The Gorillas will have little time to regroup as they open up the conference portion of their schedule on Tuesday at 6 p.m. when they host Missouri Southern State University at John Lance Arena/Whetzel Court.