SHERMAN, Texas – A seven hour gap between matches could not cool off the Southwestern University volleyball after a hot start in its opener was continued into the second match as the Pirates swept Dallas and Centenary 3-0 each at Austin College's Sid Richardson Center.
Match 1: Southwestern 3 Dallas 0 (25-18, 25-18, 25-8)
Claire Romo led the Pirates statistically with a 21-assist, 15-dig double-double as Southwestern saw a slow offensive start to the first set became a sprint by the time the match was over.
Set 1 saw Southwestern jump out to a 13-5 advantage, but the hitting cooled off and Dallas made a run to get to within 21-16.
The Pirates would win four of the final six points in the set for the 25-18 opening set win despite hitting just .075 (14-11-40) during the stanza. Dallas, however, hit at a -.098 clip with more errors (nine) than kills (five) in the 41 attack attempts.
Both teams improved on their hitting percentage in the second set with Southwestern going at a .222 clip (16-6-45) while Dallas hit .114 (11-6-44).
The third set was all Southwestern as the Pirates held the Crusaders to just three kills and a hit for 17 of their own.
A staunch defensive effort coupled with a massive offensive attack in the final two sets led to an easy victory.
Christina Kuras led the way offensively with 11 kills as nine different Pirates notched at least one kill during the match. Emma White and Riley Brantley followed closely behind Kuras with 10 kills each.
Geneva Nedrow was first in the match in digs with 17 and Annika Flora chipped in 12 assists in the two-setter rotation with Romo.
Dallas would later drop a three-set decision to Texas Lutheran to see its record go to 7-13 overall and 1-7 in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.
"We were pleased to see the team ascend through the match which culminated in a very clean .419 hitting percentage in set three while holding the University of Dallas to (eight) points," said head coach Don Flora about his team's efforts against Dallas. Emily Marks and Erica Otto came in and attacked the ball with confidence.
"Geneva Nedrow continues to be very decisive from behind the service line. Her serving set the tone for the team for this match. The staff was very content with the setting balance, as we saw Emma White, Riley Brantley and Christina Kuras each reach double-digit kills."
Match 2: Southwestern 3 Centenary 0 (25-11, 25-18, 25-9)
The Ladies were no match for the Pirates who rode the momentum from the 3-0 sweep of Dallas earlier in the day en route to an even easier decision against the last place team in the conference.
Centenary (9-16, 0-10 SCAC) remained winless in the SCAC after hitting 24-22-105 for an abysmal .019 hitting percentage thanks in large part to a steadfast effort on defense that saw Southwestern have 51 digs, three block solos and 10 block assists for the match that took a mere 1:07 to play.
Southwestern hit at a blistering .295 clip going 42-11-105 against an overmatched opponent.
White led the way statistically with yet another kill-dig double-double with 12 kills and 10 digs. White currently has 446 kills and 1,160 digs for her career.
Brantley was a closed second in kills with 12 while Nedrow scooped up a match-high 16 digs for the Pirates.
The setting duo of Romo and Flora played outstanding in getting their hitters the ball at the right time and location as Romo tallied 20 assists to Flora's 17.
UP NEXT
Southwestern improved to 12-8 overall and 8-2 in the SCAC and will look to conclude the weekend with another win to close out the weekend. First serve for the Pirates against the host Austin College is scheduled for 10 a.m. CDT on Saturday.