ABILENE, Texas – In an entertaining battle that went wire-to-wire, McMurry University Volleyball fell two points short in the fifth set of a 3-2 loss to Concordia Texas inside Kimbrell Arena on Saturday.
McMurry (4-9, 2-8 American Southwest Conference) fell behind twice with losses in the first and third sets, but had an answer each time with tight wins in the second and fourth sets. Keeping the crowd engaged, the two sides went the distance in the fifth set. Ahead 14-13, the Tornados (4-13, 4-7 ASC) had the final kill to eke out a win.
Concordia Texas 3, McMurry 2 (21-25, 25-22, 14-25, 26-24, 13-15)
Summary: The Tornados out-killed the War Hawks 69-49, but had 33 errors while McMurry had just 21. After struggling to find service aces on Friday against a pervasive Mary Hardin-Baylor reception defense, the War Hawks had nine on Saturday to match Concordia. Senior
Myranda Salcedo led the team with a double-double, recording 22 assists and 10 digs.
Kaylie Vasil had 16 kills and
Adile Leal produced 22 digs for team-best, while senior
Megan Martinez aced a game-high four serves.
Set 1: The Tornados came out attacking early with 20 kills in the first set, finishing with a .316 attack percentage. McMurry hung around with eight kills and a handful of mistakes across the net, but fell four points short. The War Hawks had a 17-12 lead at one point in the set thanks to a pair of service aces and a kill by Vasil, as well as two attack errors by CTX. From there, the visitors retook the lead with a 7-0 run. McMurry pulled within two at 23-21 on another Vasil kill, but CTX finished things off.
Set 2: Lingering mistakes across the net and an improved attack percentage helped McMurry even the match with a 25-22 set win. McM had 13 kills – led by Vasil and
Addyson Tiffin with four each. Additionally, the War Hawks took an early 3-2 lead and never fell behind from there, despite CTX tying the score at 20-20 and 21-21 late in the frame. McMurry's kills elevated the score throughout, but the Concordia attack errors proved to be the difference late.
Set 3: McMurry struggled in the third set with just five kills, while Concordia cruised with 11 kills and six service aces in the swing frame. Ahead 16-11, Concordia used a five-point scoring run to double the lead and eventually finish things off.
Set 4: Facing defeat in the fourth, McMurry played its best set of the match. The War Hawks had 15 kills on just seven errors, while CTX had 12 and eight, respectively. Things did not start well for McMurry though, as CTX jumped to a 5-0 lead. Later, McMurry used a 5-0 run of its own to tie the set at 16-16. The teams traded points up until the scoreboard flashed 22-22, where Sarah Ghormley and Kylexus Block had consecutive points to force match point. But that was not enough, as McMurry tied it up on kills by Vasil and
Tyler Richardson, then scored two more to win it 26-24 on a pair of attack errors by CTX. This would set up a dramatic fifth set finish.
Set 5: Both teams played near-flawless sets with just three combined errors (two CTX and one McM), but it would be the Tornados with 10 kills to win it. The lead changed four times, with Concordia pulling ahead 13-12 late in the set on a kill by Block. Another match point situation arose when senior
Megan Martinez was credited with an attack error, but she atoned for her mistake in a big way to make it 14-13 with a game-saving kill. Needing a point to force a tiebreaker, McMurry was unable to do so as CTX finished with a kill from Savannah Kari. McMurry's eight kills came from six players, including two each by seniors
Tyler Richardson and
Myranda Salcedo.
UP NEXT
The War Hawks continue their five-game home stand on Wednesday, Oct. 13 against LeTourneau. First serve is at 6 p.m.
