SAN ANTONIO, Texas - The No. 2 ranked Southwestern University volleyball team moved to 12-0 overall as they earned two more wins on Saturday afternoon, sweeping Hardin-Simmons followed by a hard fought win over No. 11 Wisconsin-Whitewater in four sets.
The Pirates started the day against a fiesty Cowgirl team, but hit .297 as a team to go with a strong defensive showing to earn the clean sweep of Hardin-Simmons, 25-22, 25-19, 25-20.
Sophomore Brittany Hohlt finished with 11 kills and 13 digs while junior Jamison Duck had 10 kills and 13 digs, each hitting .333, respectively, in the match. Senior Piper Sisemore added eight kills, two service aces, and two blocks.
"It was a great way to start our second day of the weekend in defeating Hardin-Simmons," said head coach Don Flora. "They passed the ball at a high level and played tremendous defense against our offense so getting a 3-0 victory was a sign of this team taking care of its business."
In the second match, it was a huge test for the nationall-ranked Pirates as it would be a Top 11 matchup with the Warhawks.
As the first set was tied at 16, SU outscored UW-Whitewater 9-5 to close the set and take a 1-0 lead. Later in the second set, Southwestern found themselves down 20-16 before a nine point rally stunned the Warhawks and put the Pirates ahead 2-0. During the run, Duck picked up three kills while Southwestern took advantage of Whitewater errors.
The Warhawks got the third set to cut the deficit to 2-1, but Southwestern closed the match as Duck got the game winner for the 25-23 clincher.
"In the nightcap, we had our hands full with the UW-Whitewater offense and their blocking schemes," said Flora. "I believe our focus on the little things, the game plan made a huge difference in later part of each set."
Duck was excellent, finishing with 14 kills and 12 digs while Mitchell added 11 kills. Grimes had 40 assists to go with nine kills and seven digs. Hohlt had eight kills, nine digs, and four service aces while Campos finished with a team-leading 23 digs. Junior Jillian Jeane had 10 digs in the big match.
"Our staff is stoked to see this entire team of women give to the collective team win," added Flora. "We had so many volleyball specific pieces of feedback from teammates to our attackers and defenders that really allowed us to handle the in match adjustments we were making as an entire team and staff."
However, the 12-0 Pirates have a huge match coming up this Friday. In what is sure to be a Top 10, possibly a Top 5 matchup, the Pirates will welcome in No. 7 Trinity to open up SCAC play. First serve is set for 6:00 PM at the Robertson Center in Georgetown.
