Southwestern 3, @UDallasVball 0 | Trinity 3, #UDCrusaders 0
SEGUIN, Texas – The University of Dallas volleyball team (19-11, 6-6 SCAC) dropped matches to a pair of the top three teams in the SCAC Conference on Saturday, as No. 22 Trinity University and Southwestern University completed 3-0 sweeps.
Dallas remains in third place in the league standings, while the Tigers (22-8, 11-1 SCAC) kept pace with Colorado College atop the rankings tied for first. Southwestern (20-8, 10-2 SCAC) holds second place and is one game behind from leaping to the top spot.
Match 1: Southwestern defeats Dallas, 3-0:
It was a difficult morning for the Lady Crusaders, falling in sets: 25-14, 25-19, and 25-15, to begin the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Cross Divisional No. 4 hosted at Texas Lutheran University.
In the opening set, Dallas went behind after four unanswered points to begin the round, and could not rally to nip the deficit.
Set number two proved to be the closest margin both squads would play against each other in the contest. The Lady Crusaders began much better posting an 8-4 advantage at one point.
As Southwestern battled back, the navy and white continued to remain in the match until things were knotted at 15-15. An 8-0 run by the black and gold was the difference as Dallas dropped to 0-2 after the heated round.
Things would be familiar in the third set compared to the opener, as the Pirates built an early edge and would top Dallas 25-15 to secure the match.
Senior middle blocker Emily Caples (Walnut Creek, Calif.) led the offense with eight kills, while junior Jaime Birzer (Ottawa, Kan.) and Cat Dowgwillo added five each. Senior setter C.J. Broadbent (Goodyear, Ariz.) contributed 20 assists.
On the defensive side, sophomore libero Jessie Koster (Sherwood, Ore.) notched 19 digs, and Broadbent also managed double-digits with 13.
Match 2: No. 8 Trinity defeats Dallas, 3-0:
Dallas battled in the final set, but could not find the win column in a trio of attempts versus the top 25 nationally ranked foe in Trinity later that afternoon. The set scores were 25-17, 25-10, and 25-22.
The first set saw the navy and white claim a 3-1 lead, and they never trailed until the Tigers pushed by on a 10-9 result. This followed after the squads had been interlocked on the scoreboard for the third time. Dallas never led nor tied again in the frame, as Trinity outscored its opposition 14-7 in the remainder of the contest.
Trinity moved closer to a sweep after a 25-10 display claimed the 2-0 lead in the match.
The Lady Crusaders were not going quietly, as they battled to the closest margin defeat on the entire day by three. After exchanging points throughout the early stages of the round, TU rattled off six-straight points to go ahead 14-9.
However, a five-point edge was all the Tigers could produce, and Dallas volleyball squad chipped away eventually coming within two scores of knotting things twice at the end of the set. The first time was 21-19 off a freshman outside hitter Mary Scholz (Fallon, Nev.) kill and a couple sequences later at 24-22, which forced a Trinity timeout.
Dallas had scored three-straight times to pressure the ranked opponent. Unfortunately TU's Maggie Emodi lifted her team off a kill to clinch the 25-22 final.
Caples again notched a team-best six kills. Lately it has been a team effort on the offense, as Dallas has not placed a player in double figures on attack kills in four consecutive contests. Birzer and Dowgwillo collected five kills again marking their same totals with the team leader in back-to-back matches.
Broadbent continues her solid campaign with 21 assists, and Koster led the squad with 14 digs in the setback.
Next Opponent:
Dallas wraps up the SCAC Cross Divisional on Sunday featuring Schreiner University and Texas Lutheran University at 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., respectively.