Volleyball takes 3-0 Sweep on Thursday over Patriots

IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas volleyball team (9-9) moved to .500 for the sixth time this season, sweeping Arlington Baptist College (11-11) in straight sets, 3-0, on Thursday evening. The final set tally was: 20-25, 15-25, and 15-25.

In the opening frame, Dallas fell down 3-1 before stringing together a 7-3 run to take the lead 8-6. From there, the Lady Crusaders maintained a narrow edge before rattling off four points in a row to build its largest lead of the set 21-15. UD would lead by six on two occasions.

The middle set witnessed the visiting Patriots threaten the momentum with another early 3-1 edge. Unlike the previous time Dallas took the edge at that point 5-4, the road squad countered to build a three-point advantage 10-7 and 11-8.

The Navy and White produced three unanswered points to knot the set 11-all. After a service error from UD, the home squad launched a 14-3 scoring span to close out the largest scoring margin of the night.

That surge carried into the third set, as the Lady Crusaders went up 10-2 from the first serve. Arlington Baptist put three points in a row up, but UD found its rhythm and kept a steady lead the remainder of the way onto the sweep. The final score of the set matched the previous set and was second time Dallas boasted a double figure advantage in the game.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Junior Lexi Noriega (Salinas, Calif.) led all players with 10 kills and also chipped in 14 digs to finish third on the team in that category.
• Headlining a trio of Lady Crusaders in double-digits for digs were junior Jessie Koster (Sherwood, Ore.) with 26, sophomore Diana Hassink (Tulsa, Okla.) with 19, Noriega.
• Seniors Jaime Birzer (Ottawa, Kan.) and Cat Dowgwillo (St. Louis, Mo.) contributed the next highest amount of kills with nine and seven, respectively. Dowgwillo was involved in a game-high three block assists.
• Freshmen duo Elizabeth Smith (Broken Arrow, Okla.) and Kaley Turner (Puyallup, Wash.) combined for 28 of the team's 34 assists. Smith notched 17 and Turner added 11.
• Dallas edged the Patriots in service aces 9-2, digs 81-70, and blocks 10-5.
• Jessica Schingle claimed a team-high eight kills for Arlington Baptist. Meagan Koontz collected 21 digs while Tiana Houston garnered 21 assists and 11 digs.

UP NEXT

Dallas enjoys a week off before hitting the court for a quartet of matches in a three-day span. First match of the stretch is October 8 against University of Texas at Dallas. The tilt begins at 7 p.m.