ABILENE, Texas – McMurry University Volleyball continued its successful Homecoming week on Friday evening, winning its second match of a three-game home stand with a 3-1 win over Sul Ross State inside Kimbrell Arena.

In the win, the War Hawks (6-9, 4-8 American Southwest Conference) had new season-highs in points with 81, total blocks with 15, assists with 53 and digs with 93, enduring a number of long rallies. Additionally, multiple upperclassmen had new individual career-highs and season-highs.

After beating LeTourneau 3-1 on Wednesday, the War Hawks took down the Lobos in similar fashion. Sul Ross State (11-7, 7-5 ASC) won the first set in a close one, 25-23, but McMurry dominated the second set and would win the next two to clinch the match.

McMurry will have three matches on Homecoming week and is now in position to win all three if they defeat Howard Payne on Saturday.

McMurry 3, Sul Ross State 1 (23-25, 25-11, 26-24, 25-14)

Summary: After a 10-1 advantage in service aces on Wednesday, McMurry did more of the same on Friday with an 11-3 advantage over Sul Ross. Sophomores Madison Cuellar and Kaylie Vasil had double-doubles, with Cuellar totaling 11 kills and a career-high 30 digs. Vasil added 15 kills and 15 digs. Senior Megan Martinez had an outstanding game with eight blocks for a new career-high, along with 12 kills and four service aces for new season-highs. Two other individuals posted impressive career-highs, including senior Myranda Salcedo with 26 assists and junior Adile Leal with 30 digs – tying Cuellar for the game-high. As a team, the War Hawks hit a .202 attack percentage and had 55 kills with just 19 errors.

Set 1: Sul Ross had its best set of the match in the opening frame, pounding 16 kills with just four kills, but McMurry was right there with them with 17 kills and six errors. The score was tied 11 times in the first set – including a 22-22 tie score following a kill by Bri Garcia. Sul Ross star Annika Canaba broke the tie with a kill and would later have the final kill in a 25-23 set win. Cuellar and Vasil had five kills each, while Martinez had four, Garcia had two and Haygen Fleming added one.

Set 2: The second set was all McMurry, as the War Hawks played perhaps their most dominant set of the season. In the first 28 points, Sul Ross only produced one kill and the War Hawks took a commanding 23-5 lead. The Lobos began battling back after a timeout, finding six more points before McMurry finally shut them down. The War Hawks needed just 10 kills to win the set, using seven service aces and eight errors across the net to win.

Set 3: With the score evened up and the crowd enlivened, the War Hawks and Lobos put on quite the show in the swing set. Leading 21-20 late in the frame, McMurry had kills from Cuellar and Allissa Rodriguez, as well as an attack error from Sul Ross, to make it 24-20. The Lobos called timeout then scored four in a row to force the two-point rule. Rodriguez gave her team the advantage with another kill, allowing McMurry to clinch the set during the next point, 26-24. Both teams had 11 kills, but McMurry had three less errors.

Set 4: McMurry won more comfortably in the fourth and final set, taking a 7-6 lead and never looking back. Ahead 12-10, McMurry won eight of the next nine points to go up 20-11. In that span, Vasil had three kills to aid the separation. Later, McMurry led 21-14 and scored four straight to clinch the match. Haygen Fleming had the first kill in that run, then Cuellar found the zone to make it 23. A Vasil service ace forced set point, then an attack error by Sul Ross ended it. Megan Martinez had six kills in the fourth set.

UP NEXT 

The War Hawks will look to sweep its Homecoming opponents as it concludes its home stand on Saturday against Howard Payne. First serve is set for 12 p.m.

Prior to first serve, McMurry will honor three seniors as part of a special senior day ceremony – Myranda Salcedo, Megan Martinez and Tyler Richardson.