Whyte and Porras Notch Season-Bests in Kills to Defeat Centenary; Split Sunday's Matches

GEORGETOWN, Texas - The University of Dallas volleyball team split the two games played on Sunday in the cross-divisional tournament held at Southwestern University. The Crusaders (9-5, 2-2 SCAC) fell to host Southwestern University in the first match of the day but were able to get back to .500 in conference play after a four-set win over Centenary College of Louisiana. UD was able to go 2-2 over the weekend in the first conference matches of the year.  

(Match vs. Southwestern University)

Dallas was unable to win a tight matchup against Southwestern which went four sets 16-25, 26-24, 20-25, 14-25. The Pirates now (7-5, 5-1 SCAC) have won four straight games. Jamison Duck and Haven Cathey both led the Pirates with 11 kills each. Two other Southwestern hitters had nine kills. Duck had a double-double with her 14 digs and 11 kills.

Abigail Porras (El Paso, Texas) had a personal-best 14 kills to lead the Crusaders in that category. Ellise Anable (Phoenix, Ariz.) added 10 kills to the Crusaders total of 44 in the game. UD had a trio of players reach double-figures in digs. Krystyn Pua (Escondido, Calif.) had a career-high 23 digs to lead Dallas. Elizabeth Smith (Broken Arrow, Okla.) had a double-double with 36 assists and 16 digs. Sarah Hughes (Fair Oaks, Calif.) capped of the trio with 11 digs.

The Pirates started the set on a 7-0 run. Dallas was able to get within one point (8-9) with kills by Anna Stevenson (Dallas, Texas) and Isabel Garcia (San Antonio, Texas). Southwestern ended the Dallas comeback with six straight points. Down 20-11, UD scratched back with a 4-0 run, but was unable to even things up in the set loss.

Dallas grabbed a 11-9 lead in set two. A 4-0 run for Southwestern put the Pirates back on top. Momentum switched sides when Dallas was able to even the game at 18, after Porras pounded one of her kills and two attack errors by Southwestern. The two teams traded points until the Pirates found themselves up 24-23. Dallas, on the brink of losing set two, scored three straight points to win set two 26-24.

The Crusaders had a 14-11 lead in set three. Southwestern took six of the next seven points to regain the lead. Porras added two kills later in the set, which helped UD to tie the set at 18. SU got a couple of points from UD errors to grab the lead (22-19). The Pirates finished off the set strong taking three straight points to win the set.

The fourth set was all tied at 5 until the Pirates grabbed six straight points. Unfortunately, the Crusaders were not able to catch up with the Southwestern attack in set four.

(Match vs. Centenary College of Louisiana)

The Crusaders beat Centenary College of Louisiana on game two on the day in four sets 25-13, 22-25, 25-7, 25-16. Dallas had an impressive 52 kills in the win with a trio of Crusaders hitting double-digit kills. Dayjah Whyte (Round Rock, Texas) led the team with a personal-best 16 kills and hit a .500 kill percentage. Porras and Garcia hit 14 and 11, respectively. UD also grabbed 68 digs with a triad of players grabbing double-digits for the category in back-to-back games. Smith led the team with 16 along with producing 36 assists. Pua added to her big day with 15, while Anable had 10.

Dallas exploded for a 7-1 set one lead. The Ladies took the next three points to slowly get back in the match. The Crusaders kept on cruising and opened up a 21-10 lead. Porras was able to land back-to-back aces (23-10) which led Dallas to finish off set one with the win.

The Ladies did not come out sluggish in set two after they took a nine-point lead (14-5). In a set that looked like it was going to be easy rolling for Centenary, Dallas produced a couple of big runs to get back in the set. Porras had an ace fall and pounded a kill, along with a Garcia kill to scratch back in the match (8-14). Three attack errors by the Ladies helped Dallas to inch closer. (12-16). After teams traded points, Porras pounded a kill to get within one. (20-21). After a great comeback, the Crusaders ran out of gas as Centenary took set two.

UD did not let the set two loss set them back in the third. Dallas hit .652 with 17 kills as they easily won set three.

Down 3-1 in the fourth set, Dallas had a 5-0 run with the help of a kill by Whyte and Anable. At the 12-8-mark, Centenary took five of the next six points to tie the set at 13. Out of the timeout called by Dallas, the Crusaders took 12 of the final 15 points to win the match.

SOCIAL MEDIA

#UDCrusaders WIN! Whyte reaches career-high 16 kills, while Porras matched personal-best 14 for the 2nd time on Sunday! #WeAreUD #SCACvb #d3vb pic.twitter.com/KiVEswFpEs

— UDallas Athletics (@UDallasSports) September 23, 2018

UP NEXT

Dallas will continue conference play as they host a cross-divisional tournament on Friday and Saturday. The Crusaders will face off against Schreiner University and Texas Lutheran University on Saturday. The team will continue play against Trinity University and Johnson and Wales University (CO) on Sunday.