ASC TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

BELTON, TX (11.06.14) - The UTD volleyball team made it nine 3-0 sweeps in a row over American Southwest Conference opponents Thursday evening, moving to the final game of the winner's bracket in the ASC Championship Tournament with a 25-20, 25-20, 25-21 win over East Texas Baptist.

The third-seeded Comets (21-9) finished the first day with a perfect 2-0 start in the double-elimination tournament after knocking off Hardin-Simmons earlier in the day. UTD will meet top-seeded host University of Mary Hardin-Baylor - a 3-0 winner over UT Tyler - in a battle of unbeaten teams Friday at 5:00 pm. A win there would advance UTD to its first ASC Tournament championship game since 2009 at 3 pm Saturday. With a loss, the Comets would first have to get past an elimination game Saturday at noon to advance to the title match.

INTERVIEW WITH UTD'S KAYLA JORDAN

UTD is definitely looking like the proverbial "team to beat" in the tournament after handling the second-seeded ETBU Tigers (15-11) Thursday at UMHB's Mayborn Campus Center. The two teams had split matches during the regular season, with ETBU holding the distinction of being the last ASC team to beat the Comets back on October 3. Since then, UTD has won nine straight ASC matches - all in sweeps; including a home sweep of UMHB two weeks ago.

Taylour Toso led the way for the Comets against ETBU, putting down a team-high 11 kills, but it was junior Meredith Crawford who did double-duty for UTD, tallying 10 kills and 16 digs. Kayla Jordan picked up 37 assists. UTD hit a respectable .223 for the match while limiting ETBU to a .118 effort. The Comets helped their cause with 8 combined blocks.

Despite the sweep, the match was expectedly close throughout. The two old rivals battled it through a rugged first set that featured a tie score nine times. The last of these occured at 18-18 before UTD rattled off a 7-2 run to claim the 25-20 win.

In the second set, it was again tight early and the score was tied up at 10-10 midway through. But UTD finished strong, going on a 13-6 run to take a 23-17 lead and finished off another 25-20 victory.

The third and deciding set went to the wire. The Comets started in a 1-5 hole, but were able to fight back and tie the score at 13-13. After the score was knotted at 18-18, UTD took a two-point edge it would not give up. Kills by Samantha Schwenke and Toso finished off the 25-21 win.