SHERMAN, Texas - Southwestern volleyball found their groove this weekend and they won four matches without dropping a set. The win improves SU to 5-3 on the season.
To open the tournament Southwestern faced St. Thomas (TX) and were challenged early, but never lost control of the match. Despite hitting just .160 as a team, Southwestern won in straight sets 25-22, 25-18, 25-23. Senior Rachel Thibodeau led the offensive attack with 11 kills on 36 attempts with just three errors while Meredith Rollins added in eight kills. Chandler Lentz and Kaitlyn Foster posted 15 and 14 digs, respectively, to lead the way defensively. Lacey Strickland had a team high three aces in the match.
After a strong opening match the Pirates turned up the intensity and dominated Dallas Christian to end day one. DCC barely made it into double digits as Southwestern had a .500 hitting percentage to win 25-4, 25-8, 25-10. The balanced SU attack was led by Macey Pool who had ten kills on 20 attempts with just one error while Elizabeth Sandoval couldn't be stopped as she had five kills on six attempts with no errors for a .833 attack percentage. Ashley Alfaro had a team high 23 assists while Jenna Taylor led with four aces.
Southwestern picked up where they left off on day two, opening with Schreiner University. The SU attack posted a .455 hitting percentage in game one to win easily 25-9 and catch the Mountaineers off-guard. Games two and three were tighter but the Pirates maintained the momentum to win 25-19, 25-18. Thibodeau recorded 12 kills to lead the way while Lentz led with 15 digs and Lorin Froetschel led with four solo blocks.
Closing out the weekend, Southwestern faced Howard Payne University and, just like the games before, swept the Yellowjackets 25-16, 25-21, 25-19. Rollins took on the bulk of the offensive responsibilities and delivered with a team high 10 kills and a .308 attack percentage while Foster added in eight.
The Pirates will look to keep the momentum moving forward as they head to San Antonio to take on national competition once again. They open with Concordia University before facing Cal Lutheran on Friday night. They then turn around and play Emory in their first game on day two before closing with a rematch with UC Santa Cruz on Saturday.
