GEORGETOWN, TX (09.04.15) - The UT Dallas volleyball team opened its weekend tournament, officially hosted by Mary Hardin-Baylor, with a tough 3-2 loss to host Southwestern before bouncing back for a 3-0 sweep of Millsaps to close Friday's action.

The Comets (now 2-1) will face Whitworth (10 a.m.) and Illinois Wesleyan (2:30 p.m.) on the campus of Southwestern University to close out the event.

MATCH 1 - Southwestern 3, UTD 2 (27-25, 22-25, 25-22, 16-25, 15-12)
The Comets got off to a slow start in the opening set and had to fight from behind the entire match before falling to Southwestern, 3-2, Friday afternoon.

UTD would rally in the opening set, knotting the game at 24-24, before eventually dropping a 27-25 decision. Holyn Handley recorded six kills while Meredith Crawford five kills in a valiant effort to grab an early lead. The second set was won by the Comets, 25-22, despite hitting just .104 as a team. Michelle Toro had a team-best four kills in the set while Emma Wallbrown used three blocks to help UTD tie the match, 1-1.

In the third set, the Comets continued to struggle offensively, hitting just .161 as a team. Crawford had five kills and six digs, but it wasn't enough as UTD dropped the 25-22 decision. The fourth set was all UTD, however, hitting just .192 but stepping up with the defense. Southwestern hit just .058 in the set, amassing just eight kills, in a 25-16 Comet win.

The Comets grabbed first two points of the fifth set as it looked as their momentum would carry them on to a victory. However, the Pirates rallied would hit .421 in the final stanza en route to a 15-12 win. UTD knotted the set, 10-10, on a kill by Crawford, but could not regain the lead as Southwestern scored the final two points of the match.

Crawford led all players with 24 kills in the match, hitting .268, with 30 digs and three blocks. Handley had 16 kills and Toro finished with 15 kills. Abbie Barth led the match with 44 digs while Kayla Jordan finished with 65 assists, five shy of the school record. With her first assist of the match, Jordan officially became the program's all-time assist leader, passing former two-time All-American Niki Calverley.

MATCH 2 - UTD 3, Millsaps (0 (25-14, 25-22, 25-13)
The Comets found their swagger in the final match on Friday as UTD hit .327 as a team en route to a sweep of Millsaps.

Toro led UTD with 13 kills while Handley finished with 10 kills in a match where Millsaps hit just .111 for the entire contest. Jordan finished with 36 more assists while Barth led the match with 16 digs.

The Comets got five kills from Handley in the opening set as UTD snagged an easy 25-14 win to open the match. The second stanza was closer as Millsaps battled back before the Comets took a 25-22 win, thanks to seven different UTD players with kills. Handley had four kills in the final sets as UTD completed the sweep with a 25-13 win.