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Belton, TX – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor volleyball team will open play in the 2012 American Southwest Conference Championship Tournament Thursday in Abilene, as the Cru's makes back-to-back ASC Tournament appearances for just the second time in the program's history. UMHB is the #3 seed from the ASC East Division in the tournament. The Cru will take a 20-6 overall record into this weekend's tournament and UMHB posted a 12-4 mark in league play this season.
UMHB will open the tournament with a 12:00 PM first-round match against West Division #2 seed Texas Lutheran University (15-11, 12-4 ASC) on Thursday. The winner of that match will move on to face East Division #1 seed U.T.-Dallas (24-5, 14-2 ASC) in a winner's bracket match at 5:00 PM on Thursday. The other first-round match will pit East Division #2 seed East Texas Baptist University (27-10, 12-4 ASC) against West Division #3 seed Schreiner University (12-13, 8-8 ASC) at 2:30 PM. The winner of that match will advance to take on West Division #1 seed and tournament host Hardin-Simmons University (26-3, 16-0 ASC) in a 7:30 PM match on Thursday. The UMHB-TLU loser will move into an elimination game at 2:30 PM on Friday. The double elimination tournament runs through Saturday. The ASC Tournament championship match will be played at 3:00 PM on Saturday with an “if necessary” match to follow. The conference tournament champion will receive the league's automatic berth in the NCAA Division III National Championships.
“We are excited about the opportunity to play in the conference tournament again,” Cru head coach
Rob Frost said. “I feel like we have great leadership from our upperclassmen and it is a great experience for our freshmen to get there this year. We are playing very well right now and our goal is to go win a conference championship.”
UMHB enters the tournament with just three returners from last year's ASC Tournament qualifier. The Cru roster features those three returners, a senior transfer and eight freshmen. Middle blocker
Tina Miller (Sr., Copperas Cove) leads the Cru in kills with 268 and hitting percentage at .269. Setter
Shelby Prather (Fr., Leander) has a team-best 796 assists and 29 service aces and
Lauren Powell (Fr., The Woodlands) tops UMHB with 229 digs, but seven players have 150 or more digs on the season. The Cru is 2-0 against Texas Lutheran on the season and is 2-4 against the other teams in the tournament field on the season. Five of UMHB's six losses on the season have come against teams ranked in the top ten in the South Region in the NCAA Regional Rankings.
The Cru is under the direction of second-year head coach
Rob Frost and the team has posted back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since the program moved to NCAA Division III play. UMHB volleyball is making back-to-back ASC Tournament appearances for the first time since the 2006 and 2007 seasons. You can follow the ASC Volleyball Tournament through live video and live statistics at the following link:
http://livestats.prestosports.com/hardinsimmons/.
Tickets for the ASC Volleyball Championship Tournament are $5 for adults and $3 for students. Official tournament long-sleeved t-shirts are $15, while official tournament programs will be $2. UMHB's last ASC Volleyball Championship came in 1998 when the Cru won the inaugural league tournament.
