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Box Score 2 RICHARDSON, TX (09.21.13) - The UTD volleyball team kept its American Southwest Conference record perfect and rolled off its seventh and eighth straight victories Saturday afternoon, sweepting LeTourneau and topping East Texas Baptist in four sets to close the ASC Interpod Tournament.
The Comets (now 10-5, 4-0 ASC) return to action next weekend for another ASC Interpod Tournament, this time in Alpine. UTD will face host Sul Ross State on Friday (5 p.m.) before squaring off with Mary Hardin-Baylor and Concordia Texas Saturday.
UTD 3, LETU 0 (25-17, 25-18,25-10)
The Comets picked up its third straight three-set win over the Yellowjackets (5-9, 0-3 ASC), who left the opening weekend tournament without a conference victory.
UT was led by junior
Taylour Toso, who tallied 12 kills in the match, along with sophomore
Meredith Crawford, who added eight. But the Comets also got seven kills from senior
Christina Murphy, who was honored before the match along with four-year teammate
Tabitha Terrell, who had three kills and one block assist in three sets of action.
Despite the one-side outcome to the match, the Yellowjackets made things interesting for the Comets - especially in the second set. LETU raced out to an early 5-0 lead, then put together two more scoring runs to stretch its lead out to 15-7 before the Comets came to life. After a timeout with the score in LETU's favor 10-17, UTD went back to its power game and rode the serving of
Kayla Jordan, who tied the score at 17-17 with a service ace. By the time UTD had finished its 11-0 run, the Comets were up 21-17 and cruised to the 25-18 win in Set 2.
The Comets also trailed early in the opening set, but went to work stretching out a lead to 13-5 with a 9-0 run. LETU was able to get back within five at 13-8, but UTD finished the match with a 12-9 spurt that left the Yellowjackets behind. Murphy posted five of her seven kills in the opening set.
Riding the momentum from the Set 2 win, UTD mad quick work of the Yellowjackets in the final set. A pair of
Bethany Werner aces finished off a 12-3 start, then Crawford capped off the 25-10 victory with her eighth kill of the match.
UTD again hit over .300 in the match, posting a 3.18 hitting percentage that included a .414 showing in the opening set. LETU had just 22 kills with 23 attacking errors to finish at -.011.
UTD 3, ETBU 1 (18-25, 25-18, 25-22, 25-14)
After dropping the opening set, the Comets bounced back with three key wins to complete their perfect run through the weekend's opponents. UTD ended the match with the Tigers hitting .245 as a team with eight blocks to hand ETBU (10-5, 1-2 ASC) its second loss of the event.
Toso led the Comets with 15 kills, adding six blocks and an ace in a solid all-around performance. Crawford and
Holyn Handley each added 11 kills to round out the Comets in double digits. Jordan ended the contest with 43 assists while
Abbie Barth led the Comets with 18 digs.
UTD hit just .085 in the opening stanza as the Tigers looked to take early control of the match. ETBU hit .211 in the first set, its best percentage of the match by far, en route to a 25-18 win. The Tigers scored the opening three points of the match and never trailed in the opening set.
ETBU looked to kept its momentum going in the second set, but the Comets clawed back in after an early deficit to eventually take an 8-7 lead on a Handley kill. UTD would not trail again in the set, using four straight points later in the match on Handley's service. Handley capped the 25-18 win with her third kill of the set. UTD hit .310 for the set, getting four kills from Toso.
In the third set, the Comets took early control and held on to the lead for the majority of the frame before ETBU rallied late. Leading 19-17, the Comets watched ETBU roll off four-straight points to grab a 21-19 advantage. However, UTD got kills from Handley and Toso to knot the game, 21-21, before ETBU regain a one-point lead on a Melanie Moyer kill. After a Tiger hitting error that drew UTB back to a tie, Toso used back-to-back kills to give the Comets set point before UTD won the frame on a Tiger error. UTD hit .245 in the set with Toso collecting five kills.
The fourth and final set was dominated by the Comets as UTD hit .462 as a team, collecting 13 kills with just one error. Toso, Handley and Crawford each contributed three kills. UTD scored the first two points of the set and never trailed, opening up a five-point lead at 17-12 and never looking back.
