ABILENE, Texas – McMurry University Volleyball hosted nationally-ranked Mary Hardin-Baylor on Friday evening and gave the Lady Cru all they could handle, but No. 8 UMHB kept its undefeated streak alive in straight sets inside Kimbrell Arena.

UMHB improved to 16-0 overall and 11-0 in the American Southwest Conference in what proved to be a slug fest. Although McMurry (4-8, 2-7 ASC) fell in three sets, the game never seemed out of reach with scores of 25-18, 27-25 and 25-21.

This weekend, McMurry Volleyball is hosting a pair of "pink out" games and encourages fans to wear pink to bring awareness to breast cancer – including UMHB tonight and Concordia Texas tomorrow.

No. 8 UMHB 3, McMurry 0 (18-25, 25-27, 21-25)

Summary: Attack percentages were fairly close with UMHB finishing at .176 and McMurry at .104, but the Lady Cru were able to obtain a 46-37 advantage in kills. UMHB also played well on first serves, allowing just one service ace. McMurry had the advantage in blocks at 7-5, led by senior Megan Martinez with five. Sophomore Kaylie Vasil had a game-high 14 kills, while sophomore Madison Cuellar had a game-high 23 digs. Senior Myranda Salcedo had 20 assists to lead the team.

Set 1: McMurry led most of the opening set early, but UMHB took back momentum with a 7-0 run to go ahead 18-11. In that run, McMurry had five attack errors – most of which missed just inches from the back line. Five players had kills for McMurry in the set, led by Vasil with four and Tyler Richardson with three.

Set 2: The War Hawks were mere moments from tying the match, but were unable to finish off the Lady Cru in extra sets. Both teams were about as even as could be in the second set, with UMHB recording just one more kill to make the difference. McMurry trailed 15-10 at one point and went on a long 6-0 run to take the lead. Five of the six points came on kills by five different players. McMurry had 15 kills in the set. UMHB would later call a timeout and work its way back ahead, going up 23-22 on a 4-0 run. Both teams had exhausted their timeouts as UMHB went ahead 24-23, but the War Hawks survived with a kill by Vasil. An attack error by the sure-handed Hannah Frasca on the other end forced a set point opportunity for McMurry – but UMHB survived. This happened twice more, but the Lady Cru eventually found three in a row thanks to two go-ahead kills by Kylie Metcalf.

Set 3: The two teams embarked on a see-saw battle in the third set – with neither giving an inch until the final moments. UMHB went up 21-17 following a three-point swing for its largest lead to that point, but McMurry scored two in a row with a Vasil kill and a UMHB ball-handling error to make it 21-19. The Lady Cru moved ahead 23-19 on two kills to force a McMurry timeout, then clinched the match on a pair of tough miscues by McMurry. Despite a service error to end the match, the War Hawks played a fairly clean set with just five errors on 11 kills.

UP NEXT 
In less than 24 hours, McMurry will host Concordia Texas on Saturday afternoon at 2 p.m. Fans are encouraged to wear pink at Kimbrell Arena for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.