UAFS held off a strong comeback bid by St. Edward's on Saturday afternoon as the Lady Lions volleyball team remained undefeated in Heartland Conference play with a five-set win at the Recreation and Convocation Center in Austin, Texas.

The Lady Lions won the match 26-24, 25-23, 20-25, 22-25, 15-10 to improve to 18-4 all-time against the Hilltoppers.

UAFS (11-7, 2-0) swept its conference-opening, two-match road series, which began with a three-et win against Dallas Baptist on Thursday night at The Burg Center in Dallas, Texas. The Lady Lions share first place in the conference with the Lubbock Christian Lady Chaps (11-6, 2-0), who swept Texas A&M International on Saturday.

The Lady Lions compiled a 0.165 hitting percentage with 68 kills on 231 attempts with 30 errors. Junior outside hitter Anna Demmer led the Lady Lions with 19 kills, while sophomore right-side hitter Erin Black had 16 and sophomore outside hitter Rachel Williams had 15.

Sophomore setter Laryssa Correa and freshman setter Taylor Stoops had 31 and 27 assists, respectively, and Demmer, Black and freshman libero Pilar Onstad served one ace apiece.

St. Edward's (11-7, 1-1) had 11 total team blocks. Senior middle hitter Mikayla Parker led the team with one solo block and five block assists, while senior middle hitter Nicole Peters and senior outside hitter Kate Hendrix each had five block assists. The Hilltoppers collected 113 digs with senior libero Morgan Beckham leading five players with double-digit digs with 28 digs.

UAFS held St. Edward's to just a 0.133 hitting percentage with 63 kills on 226 attempts with 33 errors. Hendrix had a team-high 16 kills for the Hilltoppers, while junior outside hitter Alexa McAndrew had 15, sophomore middle hitter Maddie Miksch 11 and sophomore outside hitter Melissa McNeil 10.

Senior setter Julia Hartley and freshman setter Emily Tran had 17 and 24 assists, respectively, and Beckham and McNeil each served two of the Hilltoppers' five aces.

UAFS had eight total team blocks. Demmer had four block assists, senior middle hitter Debra Rogers had one solo block and two block assists and Williams had three block assists. The Lady Lions had 114 digs. Onstad had a team-high 28 digs, while Demmer topped off her double-double with 22 digs. Correa had 18 digs, freshmand defensive specialist Lexi Castillow had 16 and Stoops topped off her double-double with 12 digs.

UAFS will take a brief hiatus from conference play on Tuesday when it plays Southern Nazarene at 6 p.m. at the Sawyer Center in Bethany, Okla. It will be the first of three matches in the week for the Lady Lions, who will host conference foes Texas A&M International at 6 p.m. on Thursday and St. Mary's at noon on Saturday at the Stubblefield Center.