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ASC Tournament Central
BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor women's volleyball team earned the Runners-Up title at the 2016 American Southwest Conference Volleyball Championship Tournament after a pair of matches Saturday afternoon in Belton. The Cru dropped 3-0 contest to UT Dallas in the first championship match before losing a hard-fought five-set if needed match to the Comets in the second. UMHB finished the season at 20-11 while the Comets improved to 30-2 and earned the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Championship Tournament.
UT Dallas won the first set 25-20, 25-21, 25-19 to force the if-needed game.
Sarah Paolini led UMHB with 13 kills while
Abby Voskuil added eight and
Maddie Frerich had seven.
Natasha Evans led UMHB with 29 assists followed by
Miranda Klein with eight. The Cru totaled 75 digs, led by Klein with 20 and Voskuil with 16. UMHB hit .179 in the match with 41 kills on 145 attacks while the Comets hit .238 with 55 kills on 164 total attacks.
UMHB and the Comets exchanged set wins in the second match, with the Cru going 25-21, 13-25, 25-22, 19-25 before UT Dallas sealed the championship with a 15-12 fifth-set win. Paolini and Voskuil led UMHB with 13 kills each while
Laryssa Wills added 11.
Natasha Evans had a match-high 45 assists as UMHB hit .165 in the contest. Defensively,
Haleigh Evans led the Cru with 27 digs while
Miranda Klein had 19 and
Natasha Evans had 16. Frerich led UMHB's defense at the net with eight blocks with Paolini and Voskuil adding four. UMHB totaled 55 kills on 188 total attacks while the Comets had 70 kills on 211 attacks.
Natasha Evans led all athletes in the tournament with 163 assists, Frerich was the tournament's leading blocker with 24 and Paolini had a third-best in points with 67.5.
Natasha Evans and
Abby Voskuil were named to the 2016 All-Tournament Team. Lauren Wish of Hardin-Simmons, Mallory Sanders of East Texas Baptist and Caroline Schecterle and Michelle Toro of UT Dallas were also honorees. UTD's Holyn Handley was named tournament MVP.
