Box Score RICHARDSON, TX (10.29.10) - The No. 25-ranked UT Dallas volleyball team returned home after more than three weeks on the road to sweep East Texas Baptist Friday. The Comets, who clinced their fifth straight ASC East Division title last week, extended its lead with easy wins in the first two sets, 25-10 and 25-11, before battling a pesky Tiger squad in the third set, 27-25.

Sophomore Dana Hilzendager led the Comets with 12 kills while senior Jessica Nassau had 11 kills and led UTD with five blocks. Senior setter Niki Calverley continued her torrid pace with 38 assists in the three-set match while senior Amber Wetz sparked the Comets defensively with 20 digs.

The Comets (now 23-5, 15-1 ASC) stormed out of the gate in the opening set, hitting .387 as a team, en route to the 15-point win. Leading just 7-5, UTD went on a 10-2 run to grab a 10-point advantage, 17-7, on back-to-back kills by Nassau. The Comets later finished the set on an 8-3 run as Nassau and Wetz both had four kills in the stanza.

In the second set, UTD opened with a 7-1 run and never looked back as the Comets hit .269 in the game to pull away with the 14-point win. ETBU hit -.161 as a team in the second set, collecting back-to-back points just three times in the set. Hilzendager took control in the set, earning five kills.

The Comets looked to be on their way to a very short match after opening the third game with a 5-0 cushion, but ETBU would not go down quietly. The Tigers knotted the game, 12-12, and took their first lead of the match at 17-16.

ETBU extended its lead to two points, 19-17, before the Comets responded to tie the game, 21-21, on a kill by Wetz. The Tigers then surged ahead to grab a 24-21 lead and had three set points, but could not force a fourth game as Wetz and Nassau had kills in a three-point run to tie the set at 24-24, and Hilzendager ended the match with a pair of kills after UTD tied the game at 25.

The Tigers, second placed in the ASC East, fell to 11-17 overall and 9-7 in ASC play.

The Comets return to the court Saturday afternoon when three UTD players - Calverley, Nassau and Wetz - could be playing the final home matches of their careers. UTD hosts Mississippi College at 2 p.m. at the UTD Activity Center while ETBU finished up its regular season schedule at Mary Hardin-Baylor.

The two teams have both qualified for a trip to the ASC Championship Tournament next weekend at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin. With the East title, UTD will have a bye into the semifinal round and is scheduled to play its first match Friday at 5 pm.

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