SAN ANTONIO, Texas - #20 Southwestern University looked
impressive at their first conference crossover this weekend. The
Pirates dropped just one game to go 4-0 over the weekend and
improve to 10-3 overall and 4-0 in conference.
SU first matched up against Millsaps and took the Majors down in
three games 25-16, 25-19, 25-19. Lindsay Thompson led with 13 kills
in game one and had a team high .579 hitting percentage. She also
recorded four digs, two solo blocks and three blocking assists. Sam
Lingamfelter dug up a team high 14 balls while Audra Gentry was
close behind with 12.
Birmingham-Southern was next on tap for Southwestern and they used
a balanced attack to emerge victorious, 3-1 (25-23, 27-25, 25-18,
25-19). Five Pirates recorded seven or more kills in the match with
Thompson once again leading the way with ten. First-year Rachel
Thibodeau (pictured) was close behind with nine and a .412 hitting
percentage while sophomore Taylor Wright led with a .667 hitting
percentage with 8 kills and no errors on 12 attempts.
Saturday saw the Pirates sweep not only matches but also games as
SU defeated Hendrix in three (25-22, 25-12, 25-8) and Austin
College in three 25-18, 25-18, 25-17. In the Hendrix match the
Pirates were nearly unstoppable as they logged a .354 hitting
percentage as a team with 42 kills on 96 attempts with just 8
errors. Christina Nicholls had a game high four service aces to go
along with her team leading 37 assists.
Against a scrappy Austin College team the Pirates applied
continuous pressure to finish the weekend undefeated. Gentry led in
the final match with 17 kills and a .300 hitting percentage. She
added 15 digs and one service ace to round out her performance.
Lingamfelter had an impressive 28 digs in the match to keep
Southwestern ahead and also added two assists and one ace. Nicholls
was second on the team in digs with 16 in addition to her team
leading 34 assists.
Overall, the Pirates had a team hitting percentage of .260 and had
240 digs. Gentry and Thompson led the way in kills for Southwestern
with 42 a piece on the weekend while Lingamfelter had a solid,
all-around performance. Lingamfelter averaged an astounding 5.46
digs per game, including 28 against Austin College, with no ball
handling errors throughout the duration of the crossover. Nicholls
accumulated 153 assists over the weekend to lead SU and was fourth
on the team in digs with 37.
Southwestern will head to Greenville, IN over the coming weekend
for West/East Crossover action. They face Oglethorpe and DePauw on
Saturday and Sewanee and Trinity on Sunday.