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Box Score 2 RICHARDSON, TX (11.04.11) - The 2011 season for the UT Dallas volleyball is most likely complete as the Comets were eliminated from the American Southwest Conference with a five-game defeat to Texas-Tyler. UTD had avoided elimination earlier on Friday with a five-game win over Texas Lutheran.
TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
After opening the event with a four-set loss to Hardin-Simmons Thursday night, UT Dallas need five wins to pick up a third ASC title in program history. The Comets earned the first of those wins Friday morning, defeating TLU, 30-28, 27-29, 25-18, 19-25, 15-11, but a second win was not in the cards. UTD (now 24-8) was eliminated with a 15-25, 22-25, 25-18, 25-22, 14-16, loss to rival UTT to finish the event in fourth place.
UTD 3, TLU 2 (Box Score)
Junior
Dana Hilzendager led three Comets in double-digit kills with 15 kills, while adding 17 digs and a pair of aces.
Hillary Baugh had 12 kills, along with 17 digs of her own, while
Christina Murphy finished with 10 kills. Murphy also added seven blocks, five aces and five digs. UTD ended the match with 16 total team blocks, led by
Halea Williams' nine rejections.
Neither team had much success offensively in the first set as the Comets hit just .067, compared to just .056 by TLU. Baugh had four kills in the opening stanza as UTD rallied for a 30-28 set that would set the hectic tone for the match. Hilzendager and junior
Amy Gunter each had eight digs as the UTD back line kept the Comets close to be able to finish off the game.
The second also went to extra points, but the outcome was not as favorable for UTD, falling 29-27. The Comets hit slightly better in the set, hitting .115 as a team, but committed 11 errors and had a pair of service errors that gave the Bulldogs momentum. Hilzendager had five kills in the set, while sophomore
Tabitha Terrell added four kills. Gunter continued to be strong defensively, adding 10 more digs.
The Comets found their rhythm in the third set, earning a 25-18 win over TLU. UTD hit .286 as a team, collecting 14 kills to just four errors, and got three aces, two from Murphy, to take a 2-1 match lead. Hilzendager had four kills while freshman
Hayden Higgins controlled the offense with nine assists.
Just as UTD controlled the third set, it was the Bulldogs that handled the fourth stanza with a 25-19 win. TLU his .205, compared to just .121 by the Comets, as the Bulldogs evened the match, 2-2. Hilzendager was UTD's leader in kills for the set with just three.
The Bulldogs (15-17) opened the fifth set with a back-to-back kills before UTD could get on the board. TLU led by as many as four points, 7-3, in the set and looked be on its way to the five-set win. But, a kill by freshman Taylor Toso and an ace by Hilzendger cut Bulldog lead in half, 7-5, and UTD eventually took a 10-9 lead on a block by Murphy and Williams. The Comets ended the fifth set on a 6-2 run, finished the match on a Bulldog hitting error. Williams had three kills and three blocks in the fifth set to spark UTD to the win.
UTT 3, UTD 2 (Box Score)
The Comets found themselves in a deep hole after dropping the first two sets to UTT, 25-15 and 25-22. The Patriots came out swinging in the opening set, hitting .467 as a team and committing just two errors. But, UTD responded with wins of 25-18 and 25-22, setting up a battle of a fifth set that came down to the wire.
The Patriots (21-11) jumped out to the early lead after hitting .467 in the first set and .227 in the second to easily grab a 2-0 advantage. UTD hit just .086 in the opening stanza and did improve in the second set (.224), but it wasn't enough to even the match.
In the third set, the Comets hit .267, getting four kills from Toso and three from Williams as they were able to slow down UTT. After getting just two team blocks in the opening two sets, the Comets got three blocks in the third, with HIlzendager and Williams each in on two rejections, to slow down the Patriot offense. UTT hit .023 for the third set, committing 10 errors to just 11 kills.
UTD continued to its momentum in the fourth set, hitting just .163 but used three more blocks to continue to pressure the Patriot front line. Terrell was in to all three blocks in the set while Hilzendager was involved in two. The Comets trialed 16-10 after UTT rolled off five straight points and looked to on their way to a four-set loss. But, back-to-back kills by Hilzendager and a block by Hilzendager and Terrel cut the lead in half and shifted the momentum. UTD grabbed the lead at 19-18 on a kill by Williams, sparking a 7-4 run to end the set, capped by a Hilzendager kill, her team-best fifth of the set.
The Comets opened the final set strong, taking a 7-1 lead, using a pair of blocks and kills by Hilzendager and Higgins. But, UTT rallied with an 8-1 run of its own to grab a 9-8 lead on a Danika Waldrep kills. The two teams tied at 9-9 and 10-10 before the Patriots scored four straight points to serve for the match. But, a side out on a Patriot error and a pair of blocks drew UTD within two, 14-13, and a UTT error knotted the game. The Patriots, however got a kill from Stacey Wilson to take back the lead and the match ended on a Comet hitting error.
Hilzendager ended the match with 19 kills while Williams added 10 kills. Both had a match-high six blocks as UTD finished with 12 total team blocks. Murphy had seven kills and Toso had six kills. Gunter finished with 24 digs while Hilzendager had 23 digs. It was the Comets first five-set loss of the year, now 9-1 in full-length matches.
The Comets entered the postseason knowing that would likely take a conference title to lock up a third NCAA Division III National Tournament appearance in four years. UTD will now wait and see if an at-large berth is in the cards.
