Volleyball goes 0-2 on Saturday to Conclude Home Tournament
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas volleyball team dropped both matches on Saturday to finish the UD Tournament 1-2 overall. The Crusaders fell short in a hard contested match with Johnson & Wales University in the morning, and then were swept in three sets to Endicott College. The pair of setbacks moved UD to 4-6 overall.
The Crusaders appeared to carry their momentum from Friday night's home opener with a 25-12 set one victory to Johnson & Wales. After allowing the first two points, UD scored 12 of the next 14 to leap out to an eight point margin. Kennedy Bradley (Groesbeck, Texas) was on serve for four points in the final 5-point span and capped it with an ace. A timeout by the Wildcats snuffed the run, but UD managed to keep expanding the edge until it reached its largest of the match at 13 on the final kill from Merit Paramo (Wasilla, Alaska).
Johnson & Wales evened the contest with a 25-20 win in the next set. The Wildcats stretched an early three point lead to as many as nine (19-10). The home team clawed back with the next four points that included kills from Elizabeth Smith (Broken Arrow, Okla.) and Paramo to force an opponent timeout. After teams traded points, a kill by Mary Scholz (Fallon, Nev.) ignited a final UD effort that frame to close the gap to three (21-18). Rylee Davis (Lampasas, Texas) recorded the final kill of that stretch, but JWU closed things out despite the Crusaders 14-10 edge in kills that set.
A nice third set win for the Crusaders started with a favorable 8-1 run. Scholz was on serve the first six points and had two aces. Samantha Garza (Richmond, Texas) added two kills. Despite Johnson & Wales countering with a couple small spurts, UD was able to respond and eventually ballooned the gap to double-digits in the second set of the day with an 18-8 score that occurred from five consecutive points. The final score of that set was 25-17.
In the fourth set, the Wildcats pushed out to an 18-11 lead. A quartet of points started and ended by Bradley kills narrowed the difference to three. Back-to-back kills by JWU's Erynn Keeney started four points in a row in a counter by the guests and swung the momentum back to that bench. Dallas fell 25-18 and the teams required a fifth deciding set.
Five straight points helped create a 7-1 advantage for Johnson & Wales in the last frame. The Crusaders chipped away and rallied back with seven-of-eight scores to make it a 13-11 deficit. The next two points were kills for the Wildcats by Keeney and Erin Sosnowchik to conclude the match.
Scholz reached her 10th double-double in kills (13) and digs (23) in a row. Diana Hassink (Tulsa, Okla.) matched Scholz with a team-high in digs. Paramo, Kennedy, and Garza formed a trio with eight kills apiece. Garza earned her career-most to surpass the seven from the previous night. Smith posted a season-high 20 assists.
Keeney and Sosnowchik led the Wildcats offensively with 15 and 13 totals in kills, respectively. Brook Paxton and Ashlee Ruehs had game-highs in their respectively categories of digs (26) and assists (32). Katie Malachinski and Keeney combined for nine of the team's 14 blocks with five and four.
In the second game of the day, Dallas was outdone in three sets by Endicott College. The Gulls went a perfect 3-0 in their trio of matches in the tournament and were able to secure wins by 25-14, 25-16, and 25-19 tallies.
The Crusaders played their best set in the third with 13 kills amassed after combining for 16 in the first two. After not leading in the first two sets, Dallas muscled out to a 4-0 advantage thanks to a service ace by Smith and consecutive kills by Garza that followed an opponent miscue.
That early score was erased and the Gulls soared out to an 11-6 edge. Dallas responded with five of the next six points that included five straight. Bradley, who matched a personal-best eight kills for the second time Saturday and fourth in two seasons; knocked one down and rotated onto the serve. She was there for the next five turns as Dallas tied the score 12-all. Dallas forced a few more ties with points exchanged, but an 8-2 run lifted Endicott out by six (22-16). UD pulled within four, but the last two points secured Endicott a winning record overall at 6-5.
Scholz maintained her streak for leading the Crusaders in kills this season with 12 total in her 11th match of the season. However her stretch of double-doubles ended at 10. Hassink was the only player in double figures for digs with 19. Stephanie Janysek (Sinton, Texas) set 19 assists.
Emma Mancini produced 15 kills for a game-high and Alex Dippel contributed 10. Zoey Gifford made 45 assists.
UP NEXT
Dallas plays a non-conference match at Southwestern Adventist University on Tuesday. First serve is slated at 7 p.m. The Crusaders prevailed against this team at home last year 3-1.