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Box Score 4 RICHARDSON, TX (09.01.12) - The UT Dallas volleyball team kicked off the 2012 season in style this weekend with a three 3-0 sweeps before suffering a tough four-game loss at the UTD Labor Day Tournament.
The Comets opened the tournament Friday with a quick 3-0 win over Hendrix, then stormed past American Southwest Conference foe Texas Wesleyan in three sets in the final match of the night. UTD then took its third 3-0 win by dispatching Centenary College early Saturday afternoon before dropping a 3-1 decision NAIA opponent Texas Wesleyan in the finale.
The Comets (now 3-1) next travel to Colorado Springs, Colo., for a tournament hosted by Colorado College. At that event, UTD will face Texas Lutheran and host Colorado College Friday and then Wheaton College and Pacific Lutheran Saturday.
UTD 3, Hendrix 0 (25-12, 25-15, 25-22) - BOX SCORE
Freshmen
Abbie Barth and
Kayla Jordan had tremendous debuts fo the Comets as the newcomer duo sparked UTD to a quick 3-0 win over Hendrix.
Barth had about as a good of debut as she could have imagined while Jordan averaged nearly 13 assists per set as the Comets cruised the season-opening win. Barth, an outside hitter from Roanoke, finished with a match-high 18 kills without an error in 35 attempts for a .514 hitting percentage. She added nine digs. Jordan had 38 assists in the three-set match while adding three digs and a pair of service aces in her collegiate debut.
Senior
Dana Hilzendager added 11 kills while senior libero
Amy Gunter had a match-high 13 digs.
The Comets finished with a .367 hitting percentage as a team, thanks to coming strong in the first two sets. UTD hit .462 in the opening set and followed with a .423 clip in the second set.
UTD 3, Texas Lutheran 0 (25-14, 25-12, 25-17) - BOX SCORE
The Comets again need a little over an hour to dispatch an opponent as UTD cruised to a 3-0 win over American Southwest Conference West Division's Texas Lutheran.
Barth again led the Comets with 15 kills, adding nine digs, while Hilzendager added 10 kills and nine digs of her own. UTD played tough defense against the Bulldogs, holding TLU to a mere .053 team hitting percentage.
Jordan averaged 9.0 assists per set, finished the match with 27 assists, and added eight digs and a match-high three aces. Gunters led UTD with 13 digs.
UTD 3, Centenary College 0 (25-13, 27-25, 25-13) - BOX SCORE
The Comets got a scare in the second set of another three-game sweep, but were able to rally back and keep their early-season record spotless. The tension-filled 27-25 victory in Set 2 was sandwiched between a pair of one-sided 25-13 victories.
The Comets pounced on Centenary's Ladies in the opening set behind an assault that included seven services aces, three from Jordan. Barth and senior
Halea Williams (4-for-4) combined for nine of UTD's 15 kills in the set.
Centenary made things nerve-wracking for the Comets in the second set, jumping out to an early 13-9 lead. After UTD eventually rallied to go up 16-14, it was the Ladies who ran off a 7-2 run to build a 21-18 advantage late in the set. But Barth rejoined the lineup and went to work, picking up a number of key kills as the Comets regained the lead, survived a pair of set points, and eventually pulled out the 27-25 victory behind seven kills from
Dana Hilzendager.
In the final set of the sweep, UTD connected on 13-of-32 attacks with just one error to put away the match.
Texas Wesleyan 3, UTD 1 (20-25, 22-25, 28-26, 19-25) - BOX SCORE
The Comets came across their toughest opponent of the weekend in the final match of the event and found themselves in a quick 2-0 deficit before rallying for a third-set win, 28-26. However, the Lady Rams responded in the fourth set to hand UTD its first loss of the season.
UT Dallas hit just .103 in the opening set and .128 in the second set as the Lady Rams outlasted the Comets in both stanzas, 25-20 and 25-22. In the second set, the Comets trailed by as many as nine points, 14-5, before eventually drawing within one point, 23-22, after a Hilzendager kill. But, a Lady Ram kill followed by a UTD error gave the Lady Rams a comfortable 2-0 advantage.
The Comets pulled ahead early in the third set, grabbing a 6-1 lead, picking up an ace and kills by Hilzendager and
Christina Murphy. The Lady Rams clawed back within a point, 9-8, and eventually grabbed a 18-16 cushion before the Comets again rallied. A block by
Taylour Toso and
Samantha Schwenke knotted the game 22-22 and Toso gave UTD a slim lead with a kill on the following play, but TWU answered with a kill to knot the game at 23-23.
After a kill by Barth, UTD once again led and then served for the set, but another Lady Ram kills evened the game at 24-24. The two teams would trade points over the next four services before the Comets would end the set with a TWU error followed by a game-winning ace on the back line by Williams.
But, the Comets could not keep the momentum going into the fourth game as the Lady Rams bounded out to an 8-3 lead and never looked back. UTD drew within two points at both 20-18 and 21-19, but ended the match with three straight hitting errors.
Barth led the Comets with 16 kills along with nine digs while Hilzendage rhad nine kills and a team-best 17 digs. Jordan led UTD with 23 assists.
