BELTON, TX (10.22.21) - In its first five-set match of the season, the UT Dallas volleyball team stunned No. 8 Mary Hardin-Baylor Friday night with a 3-2 win over the previously unbeaten Cru in a battle of ASC leaders.
With the win, the Comets (13-8, 11-3 ASC) have now won six straight matches are still in the hunt to claim at least a share of the ASC regular season title. UTD currently sits in second place in the ASC standings and will return action at 12 p.m. Saturday with an ASC road match at Concordia Texas in Austin. The Comets need two wins over their final four matches to secure a bye in next month's ASC Championship Tournament.
The Comets took early control of the contest and had host UMHB on the ropes with wins of 25-22 and 25-19 in the first two sets. The Cru responded with a 25-19 win in the third and evened the match, 2-2, with an identical 25-19 win in the fourth set. The Comets faced match point in the fifth only to respond with the final three points of the contest to hand the Cru (21-1, 15-1 ASC) their first loss of the season.
UTD closed the marathon match with 79 kills, two shy of a program record, compared to just 59 by the Cru, and averaged 17.6 digs per set throughout the battle.
Allison Owen finished with a career-high 27 kills while
Catherine Croft had 18 kills and
Gabi Sommerfield finished with 12 kills.
Owen and Sommerfield each collected four kills in the opening set as the two teams fought through eight ties and five lead changes before
Abby Jones capped the win with a kill.
Owen then posted six kills in the second set while the Comets hit .372 as a team in a 25-19 win over UMHB. The Cru held their last lead in the stanza at 6-4 as UTD slowly pulled away to grab a 2-0 lead in the match.
The Cru, however, responded with wins in the third and fourth, hitting .429 and .286, respectively to even the match and forced the deciding fifth set. Owen had five kills in the third and eight in the fourth, but it would not be enough to finish off the Cru.
UMHB led by as many as three points, 9-6, in the fifth as the Cru seemed to be heading to completing their rally. But, started to bounce back with back-to-back kills by Croft to draw within a single point, 9-8, and the Comets would eventually knot the set, 11-11, on an
Emma Sevening ace. The two teams would also even up at 12-12 and 13-13 before would serve for the match after a Comet error.
Madison Ball knotted the set once more at 14-14 with a kill before the Comets earned their match point on a Cru miscue. Ball then ended the match with a kill.
Sydney Fitt closed the match with 37 assists in the Comets' 6-2 offense while Ball corralled a match-high 26 digs.
