ABILENE, Texas – McMurry University Volleyball picked up two more wins against crosstown rival Hardin-Simmons at the Mabee Complex on Friday evening, sweeping the four-game season series with 3-1 and 3-0 wins.
McMurry moves to 8-2 on the season, while HSU falls to 1-9.
With the first win, McMurry head coach
Cammie Petree became the first coach in school history to hit the 450 career win milestone. She now has a 451-278 career record over 25 seasons.
GAME 1 – McMurry 3, Hardin-Simmons 1 (25-19, 28-26, 23-25, 25-22)
Summary: Despite being out-killed 51-48, the War Hawks powered through a four-set battle and pulled out a 3-1 victory over the Cowgirls in game one. Senior
Megan Martinez had a career-high 17 kills and added four blocks in a phenomenal outing. Senior
Brynn Wilson added 15 assists, while freshman
Madison Cuellar led the team with 16 digs. The first set saw a six-point margin in favor of McMurry, but that would be as wide as it got as the final three sets ended in back-and-forth duals.
Set 1: McMurry picked up a 25-19 win in the opening frame, jumping out to an early 5-2 lead. HSU retied the game at 6-6 with a four-point run, causing a back and forth midway through the set. Ahead 20-19, the late points swung in favor of the War Hawks.
Set 2: The most competitive set of the night, McMurry and HSU had the score tied 13 times. The War Hawks never fell behind by more than two points. Down 24-23, McMurry called timeout and got a kill from
Megan Martinez to stay alive. HSU went back ahead 25-24 with a kill of its own, but a block by Martinez and
Addyson Tiffin made it 25-25. Back-to-back service errors retied it at 26, but McMurry would score the final two points on a Martinez ace and a
Madison Cuellar kill. Both teams had 15 kills and six errors in the second set.
Set 3: HSU's lone set win of the night, the Cowgirls overcame a four point deficit and took a 19-18 lead late in the set. Tied at 23-23 thanks to a surprise attack by McMurry's
Myranda Salcedo, HSU got two final kills to stay alive. McMurry had 10 kills in the set, its fewest of the match.
Set 4: The War Hawks closed it out with another tight win, taking a lead at 16-15 and never looking back.
Megan Martinez had two of the final kills in the set, leading to a service ace by
Kaylie Vasil to make it 24-20. After a pair of miscues by the War Hawks, HSU lost the set on a service error. McM had a 12-10 kills advantage.
GAME 2 – McMurry 3, Hardin-Simmons 0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-23)
Summary: McMurry picked up the sweep with two early set victories and a close call in the third set. After having just eight total kills in two games on Tuesday, freshman
Kaylie Vasil matched her season high with 15 kills in the second game alone to lead all players. She turned in an impressive .357 attack percentage and added 12 digs for the double-double. Sophomore
Adile Leal also had a season-high with 21 digs.
Set 1: HSU came out aggressive in the first frame with an early 5-2 lead, but the War Hawks went on a quick 3-0 run to kill the momentum – all HSU mistakes. The lead changed four times from that point on, as McMurry went on a 4-0 run to pull ahead 19-17, capped by a kill from
Brynn Wilson. After an HSU timeout, McMurry added three more points and forced another timeout. Vasil went on to get the final kill and secure the win.
Set 2: McMurry had its best set of the match in the second frame, dominating with a 15-6 advantage in kills. The War Hawks took 11 of the first 15 points and later grew its lead to eight with a four point swing late in the match to make it 21-13. The final four points all came on three kills and a bad set, with Vasil owning two of the three kills and Martinez the other.
Set 3: The final set included multiple runs, starting with a 5-0 swing for the Cowgirls to go up 7-3. Trailing 8-5, McMurry then went on the longest streak of the night with nine straight points. Ahead 23-15 later in the set, McMurry surrendered six in a row and were forced to call a timeout. McMurry pulled ahead 24-21 when an HSU service error ended the run. Following two more points to make it 24-23, Vasil slammed the final kill to secure the sweep.
UP NEXT
The War Hawks look to sweep another season series next Tuesday evening as they travel to Howard Payne. The doubleheader begins on March 16 at 5 p.m. from Brownwood Coliseum.
