RICHARDSON, TX (10.20.15) - Thanks to a 3-0 home win over division rival East Texas Baptist Tuesday night, the No. 20-ranked UT Dallas volleyball team will host the 2015 American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament next month. UTD knocked off the Tigers, 25-18, 25-19, 25-20, for its 14th straight victory.
The Comets (now 21-2, 9-0 ASC) have just two conference matches left in the regular season and have officially locked up the ASC East Division title, earning the host the postseason event, scheduled for Nov. 5-7. With Tuesday's loss, ETBU fell to 20-4 overall and ended their ASC slate with a 8-3 mark.
UTD hit .250 for the match as senior setter
Kayla Jordan near-flawlessly controlled the Comet offensive attack. Jordan, who ranks fourth in NCAA Division III with 11.40 assists per set entering the match, finished the short contest with 42 assists, 14.0 per set, and added seven digs and three blocks. Freshman
Kristyn Schott led UTD with 13 kills, hitting .478, along with 11 digs while junior
Michelle Toro, who was named the Sports Imports/AVCA National Player of the Week earlier in the day, had 12 kills, hitting .571, with four blocks.
The Comets got off to a hot start, hitting .243 in the opening set with Toro and
Abbie Barth each collecting four kills en route to a 25-18 win over ETBU. UTD used four blocks and held the Tigers to an .000 team hitting percentage (9 kills, 9 errors) to open the night. The Comets improved offensively in the second set, hitting .295, as they never trailed on their way to a 25-19 win over ETBU. Toro had five kills without an error in 10 swings and
Holyn Handley added four kills to give UTD a quick 2-0 lead.
The third and final set was back-and-forth with both teams using swings to take leads. ETBU took control early in the set, grabbing a 10-7 lead, forcing the first of two early Comet time outs. UTD would use a strong service run by Jordan to climb back into to set, even taking a 13-11 lead after a Tiger error. ETBU rallied, however, using five straight points to regain a three-point cushion, 16-13, after back-to-back kills by Mallory Sanders, but a second UTD timeout followed by a block by
Emma Wallbrown and
Sydney Riordan would help turn the tide.
The Comets would use a 6-0 run on the service of
Abbie Barth, getting a pair of kills by Schott to take back control of the match. ETBU would draw back within two points at 21-29, but the Comets scored four of the last five points, with the match ending on a Tiger hitting error.
UTD will return to action Friday night as the Comets host Belhaven at 7 p.m. at the UTD Activity Center.
