RICHARDSON, Texas — Southwestern volleyball senior Lauren Crabtree and freshman Christina Kuras led Southwestern with efficient double-digit kills performances to defeat the Aurora Spartans 3-0 (25-21, 25-23, 25-12) to open the UT-Dallas Fall Festival. 

Kuras led the Pirates with 11 kills on a .364 hitting percentage, and Crabtree had 10 on a .350 clip to overwhelm Aurora. 

"Today, we played extended periods of high-quality volleyball against a really talented and physical Aurora University," Southwestern head volleyball coach Don Flora says. "Seeing the team understand the demands of executing at a high level in crunch time during the second set was an important growth step for this entire program."

Southwestern outhit Aurora with 41 kills to 30, hitting .219 to the Spartans' .109. The Pirate attack was directed by its two setters, Katelyn Whitehead and Claire Romo, who had 19 and 15 assists. 

"Claire and Katelyn both made quality decisions and located their sets well when we needed it most tonight. It was good to see the balance in our offense," Flora says. "Also, as a group, we did a nice job at the service line in keeping pressure on our opponent throughout the entire match." 

Defensively, Southwestern was solid up front, posting 16 block assists led by middle blocker Riley Brantley and Crabtree, who finished with four each. Reigning SCAC Defensive Player of the Week Ali Grona led Southwestern with 18 digs from the back row. 

"We were able to make a couple of key adjustments defensively and blocking that helped us in crunch time," Flora says. "Each match we play, we are learning things about ourselves."

Southwestern improves to 5-0 with the victory. The Pirates will play Texas-Dallas (2-4) and Carnegie Mellon (3-2) tomorrow at 12:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m.