@UDallasVball 3, Wiley 0
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas volleyball team captured its first victory (1-4) of the 2014 season following a 3-0 sweep of Wiley College at the Maher Athletics Center. Dallas topped the Lady Wildcats (2-8) to clinch its home opener with 25-19, 25-23, and 25-21 results.
In the opening set, the Lady Crusaders dropped behind as many as 9-6, before catching up to a 10-10 tie. Things remained back-and-forth through most of the round until Dallas rattled off five-straight points after the scored knotted at 16.
WC nipped at the deficit, narrowing things to as close as three, 21-18, but the home squad closed the set out 5-1.
In the next frame, Dallas once again found itself in a competitive battle with the road team. UD was unable to ever grab a lead until late, but did force 10 ties throughout the tightly contested affair.
Finally with a 23-23 tally, kills from senior middle-blocker Emily Caples (Walnut Creek, Calif.), and sophomore outside hitter Mairin Guilfoyle (Roanoke, Va.), respectively, lifted the navy and white to a 2-0 advantage in the contest.
In the concluding set, Dallas again propelled itself near the later part of the match. Never trailing by more than three, the Lady Crusaders took their first lead at 18-17 off an attack error from WC's Noemi Garza. From there, the home squad poured on the pressure, never relinquishing the edge or allowing a tie the remainder of the affair to burst into the win column for the first time.
Caples boasted a game-high 14 kills, while junior middle-blocker Cat Dowgwillo (St. Louis, Mo.) added 10. The duo each notched double-digits and held 24 of the team's 48 total on the night. Guilfoyle and junior middle-blocker Jaime Birzer (Ottawa, Kan.) contributed nine and eight, respectively.
Senior setter C.J. Broadbent (Goodyear, Ariz.) broke the 40-assist mark for the third time in the early campaign with 41. She moves her season total to 163 and is averaging 9.06 a set.
Next Opponent:
Dallas is on the road for another weekend invitational, traveling to Thousand Oaks, California on Sept. 5 and 6. The quartet of matches begins Friday versus University of Redlands (Calif.) at 3 p.m. (PDT) and Occidental College (Calif.) at 5 p.m. (PDT).
Saturday things continue with Pomona-Pitzer College (Calif.) and Chapman University (Calif.) respectively tipping off at 11:30 a.m. (PDT) and 4 p.m. (PDT). All contests are hosted at California Lutheran University.