SAN ANTONIO, Texas — January 24, 2026 — Playing its first-ever match at the Frost Bank Center, LOVB Austin fell to LOVB Houston in straight sets, 25-14, 25-21, 25-14, on Saturday afternoon.
Despite the cold temperatures outside, Houston opposite hitter Jordan Thompson was on fire inside the arena, leading all players with 21 points, scoring 19 of her 21 points on the attack, while outside hitter Jess Mruzik added 11 points for Houston’s first win of the season.
A LOVB Austin home match, the teams played in San Antonio’s Frost Bank Center, home of the NBA’s San Antonio Spurs. Spurs Sports & Entertainment is part of Austin’s ownership group that was announced last summer.
“First, I’d like to thank the Spurs for hosting us,” said Austin head coach Erik Sullivan. “This was an awesome environment and turnout with the circumstances. Disappointing, obviously, I don’t think we competed very well from the first serve. Hats off to Houston, I thought they played really clean and put a lot of pressure on us. We didn’t respond very well.”
Austin was led by Logan Eggleston with 10 points on a .417 kill efficiency as she used the line shot particularly well throughout the afternoon.
Houston used a 10-2 run midway through the first set to build a 12-4 advantage. Asjia O’Neal ended the streak with a first-swing kill for the 12-5 score, but Austin was never able to close the gap, dropping set one, 25-14.
Austin built a 16-11 lead in the second set as setter Carli Lloyd did a great job of distributing the ball to all her hitters to keep Houston guessing, but Houston responded by scoring six of the next seven points to tie the score at 17-17. Austin answered with four of the next six points, with three kills by Eggleston for the 21-19 lead, but Houston ended the set on a 6-0 run for the 25-21 victory.
Houston continued its strong play from the end of the second set, getting several blocks on back row attacks, and winning the long rallies, capping off the match with an ace serve by Mruzik.
Austin (3-2) travels to LOVB Salt Lake on Thursday, January 29, on ESPN+ at 8 p.m. CT.
