BELTON, Texas – McMurry University Volleyball advanced to day two of the American Southwest Conference Tournament, defeating East Texas Baptist University 3-1 Thursday night at the Mayborn Campus Center at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor.
Although the War Hawks (24-5) dropped the second set, they made a late rally and used that momentum to win the next two sets to take the match.
"Knowing that we could come back from such a deep loss, we were so far down, and then we came back. We were like, 'OK, we're confident, we can do this,'" senior outside hitter Jasmine Jones said about the momentum after the second set rally.
The momentum showed in the third set, as the War Hawks cruised to a 25-13 set win. McMurry raced out to an 11-5 lead, with Jones providing three kills. McMurry extended the lead to 15-7 with two kills each by junior middle blocker Kianni Mitchell and junior outside hitter Jordyn Burnell. The War Hawks closed out the set with an ace and a bad set by the Tigers.
The Tigers (14-15) tried to halt the momentum with a 7-4 lead in the fourth set, but the War Hawks used a 9-0 run to take the lead and not look back. Jones had four of her team-high 14 kills during the run and hit .308 on the evening.
Mitchell tallied a dozen kills as McMurry spread the ball around to all five of its hitters. McGowan also added double-digit kills with 11, while senior right side hitter Madison Reed and Burnell added nine and seven kills, respectively. Mitchell led the team with a .462 attack percentage while McGowan hit .357.
The War Hawks were spectacular on defense, topping 100 digs for the second time this season and recording the most in a four-set match. Senior libero Odalis Rodriguez led the charge with 28 digs, and needs just six to reach the 2,000 dig mark.
Both setter recorded double-doubles, as junior Emarie James paced the offense with 22 assists and 19 digs. Sophomore Lauryn Davis dished out 21 assists with 13 digs. Jones narrowly missed a double-double with nine digs, while Burnell tallied 15 digs.
McMurry was also solid at the net, recording seven total blocks, with McGowan totaling six assisted. McMurry also added nine aces, three each by senior defensive specialist Christian Brown and James, including the match point.
The War Hawks will face Mary Hardin-Baylor for the third time this season at 1:30 p.m. Friday at the Mayborn Campus Center. The Cru swept the War Hawks twice in the regular season, but that doesn't faze the War Hawks.
"We just have to come out on our best bet," Jones said. "We've played them too many times, we know what we need to do, so now it's just execution. We have to be disciplined and do what we know how to do."
McMurry is guaranteed two games tomorrow, and will play at either 5 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. in their second match versus Concordia Texas or UT Dallas pending the results of the early matches.
