University of Texas at Dallas Athletics

ATLANTA, GA (11.11.21) - The UT Dallas volleyball team is moving on to the second round of the NCAA D-III National Championship after a 3-1 upset of Christopher Newport Thursday night to open the Atlanta Regional, hosted by Emory.

POST-MATCH INTERVIEW WITH HEAD COACH MARCI ALLISON AND COMETS CATHERINE CROFT AND EMMA SEVENING 

REGIONAL TOURNAMENT CENTRAL

After dropping the first set of the match, the Comets (18-9) rallied for three straight wins to move on to the second round of the national tournament for the fourth time in program history and first time since advancing to the Sweet 16 in 2016.

The Comets return to action at 6 p.m. (Central) Friday in the second round against No. 13-ranked Emory.

Catherine Croft and Allison Owen each closed the match with 14 kills while Madison Ball and Erin Rogers both finished with seven kills. After a slow offensive start to the duel, the Comets finished strong and closed the victory with a .217 team hitting percentage.

"We knew coming in that Christopher Newport was a very good team with a long history in this tournament," said UTD head coach Marci Allison. "We had to get a little of the nerves out and calm down. We calmed down and made better decisions."

The Captains (22-10) started solid and opened the match with a 25-22 win over UTD. The Comets made adjustments after the first set and responded with a 25-20 win in the second stanza to even the match. Croft had five of her 14 kills in the set set while defensively the Comets stepped up with 15 digs to claw back into the match. UTD led by as many as 11 points to take a 24-13 lead on the Captains.

"We weren't playing UTD volleyball in the first set," said Croft. "We came out in the second set and held each other accountable and played the way we knew we could."

The Comets' momentum continued into the third set, rolling out to a 15-7 lead on CNU early in the game. Owen stepped up with five kills in the third while the Comets hit .241 to take control of the contest, 2-1, with a 25-18 victory.

Croft and Owen then guided the Comets to a fourth-set, 25-23, victory, collecting six and four kills, respectively. The Comets led the majority of the fourth stanza, but had to hold off CNU late. Up 23-20, the Comets gave up three straight points as the Captains evened the set. However, Owen finished the match with back-to-back kills to send UTD to the second round.

Libero Rachel Baxter led the Comets with 18 digs while setters Emma Sevening and Sydney FItt wrapped up the match with 24 and 19 assists, respectively. Gabi Sommerfield had a match-high six blocks.

The Comets are making their second-straight and eighth all-time appearance in the national tournament. There was no event in 2020 due to COVID-19. UTD earned an automatic berth into the national tournament this season by winning the ASC championship for the seventh time in program history.