TYLER, Texas - Oklahoma Christian led early in every set Friday night, but the hometown Patriots of UT Tyler took the conference opener, 3-0, in front of their first home crowd of the new campaign.

Chloe Jones and Riley Daugherty each claimed double-doubles with a 13-kill, 10-dig performance and a 12-kill, 15-dig showing, respectively. As a team, OC hit .179 while UTT delivered an electric .303 hitting percentage for its home debut.

The Eagles' attack percentage improved each set. Unfortunately for the Sooner State visitors, so did the Patriots'. The opening set sat at 14-12 in favor of the Patriots, but a 5-1 run fueled the eventual 25-19 first-set victory.

Oklahoma Christian earned a head start in the second frame, thanks to Daugherty and her at-the-time match-high seven kills with OC holding a 12-9 advantage, forcing the UT Tyler coach to call her first timeout of the match. From there, however, Daugherty claimed just one more kill in the set as the Patriots' defense tightened up for a 25-21 win.

The third set appeared to be a different story early on with the Eagles opening their biggest lead of the night at 8-3. The Patriots began to chip away slowly, however, before the match stood at a deadlock, 16-16.

With the home crowd sensing the shift in the third-set momentum, UTT used that to build its second 5-1 run of the night for a 21-17 back-breaking lead. Oklahoma Christian cut the deficit down to two once more, but the Patriots held on for the 25-22 third-set and match-deciding triumph.

The Eagles (8-4, 0-1 LSC) will face their second opponent of this two-match road trip when they take on No. 23 Dallas Baptist Saturday, Sept. 28 at 2 p.m.