Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 RICHARDSON, TX - The University of Texas at Dallas volleyball team powered its way into a tie for first place in the American Southwest Conference East Division Friday night with a dominating 25-20, 25-14, 25-18 win over East Texas Baptist University, then finished off the regular season by holding off Mississippi College, 25-15, 26-24, 25-15 to close the deal.
.jpg" alt="" />The win over ETBU was the most important, however, as UTD rallied to tie the Lady Tigers for first place in the East Division with a 14-3, giving the Comets (22-7 overall) their third straight divisional crown. (The two teams also tied in 2006 with UTD winning the title outright in 2007).
More importantly, though, the 3-0 win over ETBU earned the Comets the tiebreaker edge going into next weekend's ASC Championship Tournament at Texas Lutheran University. UTD will have the East Division's first-round bye in the tournament, which starts Friday.
UTD will meet the winner of the quarterfinal match between Hardin-Simmons and UT-Tyler in a semifinal match Friday at 5 pm in Seguin. The championship match is set for Saturday at 2 pm against either host Texas Lutheran, ETBU or McMurry, which make up the other half of the bracket. (Link here to
tournament bracket).
In what was anticipated to be a long, hard-fought match between these two rivals Friday night, the Comets came out firing and made quick work of the Lady Tigers in three sets. UTD took a narrow lead in the first set, but edged out near the end to a 25-20 victory. In the second set, the Comets jumped out to an 8-0 advantage and never looked back. ETBU actually took its first lead of the night early in third set, but UTD tied the score up and worked out quickly to a lead to claim the match.
The Comets hit over .350 with 47 kills in the three-set sweep with three players in double figures.
Aubrey Bratcher and
Patricia Allen (who hit .556) each had 12 kills while
Amber Wetz pitched in 11 to go with 12 digs. Allen was again a kill leader against Mississippi College, putting down 12 kills with just two errors. Bratcher added 10 kills as UTD held a 43-33 edge in that category. ETBU, meanwhile, hit just .093 and had double figure kills as a team in only one match.
Setter
Niki Calverley, who is among the nation's leaders in assists, added to her record season totals with a 70-assist weekend.
Playing in back-to-back days, the Comets were understably not quite as high emotionally against the 13-15, 5-12 Lady Choctaws Saturday afternoon. Still ,UTD put together a 43-33 kill advantage and rallied to win the only close set of the three, coming from 24-22 down in the second set to stake a 26-24 win.
BOXSCORES: ETBU | MC
