RICHARDSON, TX (09.18.18) - The UT Dallas volleyball team returned to American Southwest Conference play Tuesday night with a 3-0 home victory over LeTourneau.

The Comets improved to 7-4 overall and 2-0 in ASC East Division play with Tuesday's win and will now travel to the first of two ASC crossover tournaments this weekend. UTD will open the first crossover weekend Friday at 11 a.m. against event-host Mary Hardin-Baylor before squaring off with Concordia Texas at 3 p.m. later that day. The Comets close the weekend Saturday at 10 a.m. against Howard Payne.

UTD struggled to set the tone in the opening set, hitting just .222 as a team, en route to a 26-24 come-from-behind victory. Down 22-20 late in the set, the Comets back-to-back kills from Alyssa Porter to even the stanza and then used kills by Alex Nolan and Jillian Via to pull away. UTD locked up the set with a block by Nolan and Lauren Schilling. The Comets trailed by as many as five points, 16-11, midway through the set.

The Comets needed eight kills in the second set to dispatch LETU, 25-21. The YellowJackets hit just .089 as a team, committing nine errors, and made five service errors. With the set tied, 16-16, the Comets took advantage of a service miscue followed back-to-back LETU hitting errors, forcing a YellowJacket timeout at 19-16. Those three points sparked a 9-5 run to end the set.

UTD hit an impressive .379 in the third set to secure a 25-14 victory and end the match. The YellowJackets jumped out to a quick 4-1 lead after dropping the first two sets, but the Comets rallied on the service of Nolan and would take the lead. UTD later used a run of seven straight points to pull away.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• Via and Schilling each had four kills as the Comets earned a 26-24 win in the opening set. Nolan led the Comets with seven digs in the set while the team as a whole had four blocks.
• Via added four more kills in the second set en route to a 25-21 win for the Comets. Riordan led UTD with six digs.
• Madeleine McCall led the Comets with five kills and an ace as UTD locked up the win with a 25-14 victory in the third set. The Comets collected 14 kills with just three errors in the decisive set.