GEORGETOWN, Texas - At their final home matches of the season the SU volleyball team defended their home turf with two wins over Concordia and St. Thomas to improve to 28-2 on the year and keep their win streak alive at 19 in a row.
In their opening match of the day SU faced-off against Concordia University. Southwestern took an early 5-0 lead in the first set and never looked back as they effortlessly defeated the Tornados 25-15, 25-14, 25-21.
The final match of the tournament pitted the Pirates against the University of St. Thomas. The match marked the final home contest for seven seniors, Sarai Tenerelli, Christina Nicholls, Lindsay Thompson, Mariad Cocke, Jill Wigington, Taylor Wright and Julie Bartrip.
SU built and early lead but the Celts came back strong to take a four point advantage, 11-7. The Pirate's big hitters brought them back even, 11-11, and teams traded points on the race to 25. Two big blocks by Lauren Froetschel aided Southwestern in a late run to go up by three, 23-20, and hitting errors by UST handed SU the 25-22 set one win.
In set two SU just couldn't find their groove as the Celts built a big lead that the Pirate's couldn't rebound from as they lost 25-15.
Southwestern regrouped at the outset of the third set, rattling off three points to start the set and pushed to a 9-2 lead. St. Thomas fought back to pull within three points, 15-12, but the Pirates outsmarted the Celts down the stretch to win 25-18.
UST decided to make a match of it as the fourth set got underway, challenging the Pirates and matching them point for point before breaking out to a brief four point lead, 9-5. Southwestern chipped away at the lead and eventually took control, 13-12, after two errors by the Celts and a kill down the line by Wigington.
St. Thomas attempted to stop SU's momentum with a pair of timeouts, but it was to no avail as SU continued to press towards the win. Strong serving by Chandler Lentz moved the Pirates within three points, 22-14, while Thompson's well placed push kill put SU one point from the win.
In fitting fashion a true hustle play gave the Pirates the win, 25-16, to give SU the 3-1 victory.
Christina Nicholls was selected to the All-Tournament, named as the Most Valuable Player.
Next up Southwestern heads to Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss. for the SCAC Conference Championship. The Pirates are the #1 seed in the tournament after closing out regular season conference action with an undefeated 14-0 record. They will face the winner of Hendrix/Dallas on Friday at 4:45pm.
