CLAREMONT, Calif. - The 2022 season came to end Friday night for the UT Dallas volleyball team as they lost in a hard-fought match, 25-23, 25-10, 29-27, to #1-ranked and unbeaten Claremont-Mudd-Scripps in the Second Round of the NCAA Division III Volleyball Championship.

The Comets battled the nation's top Division 3 team throughout the opening set, which went back-and-forth with 12 ties and eight lead changes. With the score 21-21, the host Athenas (30-0) ended the set with a 4-2 rally.

CMS then dominated the second set, hitting .458, to put UTD in a 2-0 hole. The Comets (21-6) hit just -.077 in the second before rallying in the third.

UTD built a 20-11 lead in the third frame, but the Athenas answered with a 12-3 run to tie it up 23-23. From there, the set was tied four more times - at 24, 25, 26 and 27 - before the top team in the nation finished it off with an ace and a kill. The Comets connected on 20 kills and hit .360 in the final game.

For the match, UTD hit .180 on 38 kills with four aces, four blocks and 40 digs. CMS, who only dropped four sets all season, hit .352 with 48 kills, six aces, nine blocks and 58 digs.

The match was the final in the careers of four Comet seniors - Madison Ball, Catherine Croft, Abby Jones and Karle Lynd. 

UT Dallas Notes
- Zach Villarreal capped his first season as the head coach with a 21-6 record and an ASC title.
- Jones led the Comets with nine kills and had eight digs.
- Ball posted eight kills and a team-best nine digs.
- Freshman middle blocker Lauren Johnson hit a season-best .417 with six kills and three blocks.
- Lynd finished with seven kills and a block.
- Izzy Sundquist recorded 16 assists and seven digs, while Emma Sevening had 15 assists and five digs.
- Junior libero Rachel Baxter came up with eight digs.

Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Notes
- The Athenas advance to the Regional Finals on Saturday.
- Jenna Holmes posted 12 kills and 10 digs.
- Dede Caranza led all players with 19 digs.
- Georgia McGovern had 23 assists and 10 digs.
- Brenna Bell hit .450 with 10 kills and six blocks