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ABILENE, Texas – McMurry defeated Texas Lutheran for the first time since 2007 and knocked off the first-place Bulldogs 25-22, 22-25, 25-22, 25-16 Thursday night at Kimbrell Arena.
TLU fell to 11-4 overall and 8-2 in the American Southwest Conference West Division while McMurry improved to 10-8 and 7-4 in league play. The victory gives McMurry its sixth win in its last seven matches and marks the first time McMurry defeated the Bulldogs since Sept. 22, 2007 at Kimbrell Arena.
In the 2007 match,
Erica English,
Danielle Kelton and
Terah Brown all had double-digit kills to take down the Bulldogs who were in first at the time. Two years later, English was gone, but Brown and Kelton led McMurry again with 14 and 12 kills respectively while freshman
M.J. Vickers added 10.
McMurry hit .217 as a team and limited the Bulldogs to just a.097 hitting percentage. Neither team had true control of the match as much of the contest was back-and-forth. However, in the fourth set, McMurry trailed 10-7 before finishing the set in dominating fashion out-scoring TLU 18-6 in the final 24 points of the contest.
Bennie Smith sparked that run for McMurry with six kills while Kelton and Brown each had two during the run. Smith finished with eight kills in just three sets of play and hit .300 for the match.
Vickers was the most efficient for McMurry leading the team with a .348 mark. On the other side, TLU's Jamie Jahns led with 11 kills and Sarah Black and Jessica Stetler each had 10 apiece. Defensively, four Bulldogs had at least 10 digs with Amanda Curry leading the way with 18. Jahns also had one solo block and five assists to help TLU out-block McMurry 8-7.
Kelton finished with her second consecutive double-double and third in the last four matches with 21 digs while
Sarah Anding led the team with 21.
Brenda Jackson added a dozen and chipped in seven kills as well.
Bailey Marcum had seven kills for McMurry and nine digs. The two-setter combo of
Carmyn Wingrove and
Kelsey Campbell combined for 49 of McMurry's 53 assists with Wingrove leading the team with 26 and Campbell adding 23.
McMurry will try to complete its undefeated week Friday at 5 p.m. with a match against Concordia- Texas at Kimbrell Arena.
