SHREVEPORT, La. — Southwestern volleyball's Emma White put down a career-high 24 kills to lead the No. 17 Pirates to a five-set victory over Austin College, ending the day with two wins to start the second weekend of conference play.
Match 1: Southwestern 3, Dallas 1 (25-16, 24-26, 25-9, 25-14)
Southwestern opened and finished strong against the University of Dallas, controlling the match in all but a second set the Pirates lost in extra points.
Christina Kuras led a balanced Pirate attack with 10 kills, hitting a sizzling career-high .474 hitting percentage to pace a Southwestern team that hit .237. Five Pirates finished with at least eight kills, with setter Katelyn Whitehead directing the offense with 23 assists and 15 digs.
Middle blockers Riley Brantley and Andie Valenzuela had eight kills each, and both hit over .350 while combining for five block assists.
"Everyone made good adjustments versus a solid defensive University of Dallas team to give us a quality win," Southwestern head volleyball coach Don Flora says. "The Pirates middles took care of thundering some swings and making quality decisions when needed."
Southwestern set the tone with their serve, keeping Dallas off-balance and putting down 14 service aces. For the match, the Pirates held a 94-82 advantage in digs.
"We put a lot of pressure on Dallas from the service line," Flora says. "When we target the correct seams and zones, we can be a high-quality serving team. It was great to see teammates support each other when good things happen."
Match 2: Southwestern 3, Austin College 2 (20-25, 25-20, 23-25, 25-16, 15-13)
Southwestern was tested thoroughly by an Austin College team off to its best start in a decade, going back and forth for a five-set win that went down to the wire.
"It's always important to battle and find a way to get to the end-line with the win," Flora says. "Austin College did a very good job exposing some things we need to be better at, and we had to figure out some pieces to the puzzle."
For whatever questions Austin College posed for Southwestern, it had no answer for Emma White, who hit a career-high 24 kills on a .295 clip with 25 digs, two block assists, and two service aces.
"This was a team win in a team effort, battling in crunch time," Flora says. "The coaching staff is super proud of Emma White and her ability to find ways to put the ball away."
Two other Southwestern players finished with double-digit kills. Christina Kuras had 11, and Andie Valenzuela had 10 on a .250 hitting percentage with two block assists and a solo block. Riley Brantley had nine kills on a .231 hitting percentage with four block assists, and libero Ali Grona was spectacular with a career-high 38 digs.
"Ali Grona was tremendous digging balls from numerous locations on the court, and our serve receive settled in nicely as the match went on," Flora says. "Also, our middles continue to work hard offensively and defensively. Today is the type of day we can all learn and get better from."
Southwestern improves to 13-1 this season with a 4-1 conference record. The Pirates will play Schreiner and Centenary tomorrow at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
