BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor volleyball team fought back from a 2-1 deficit to earn a 3-2 win over Hardin-Simmons Friday evening in Belton. The win improved the Cru to 12-6 on the season and 5-4 in American Southwest Conference action while the Cowgirls fell to 10-6 overall and 5-5 in league play.
The first set played evenly with seven tied scores until the 16-16 mark. UMHB closed the set with a 9-0 run to take a 1-0 lead in the match, led by
Kaylie Vasil with two kills. The second set played closely with neither team leading by more than three points. UMHB fought back from a 24-19 deficit to tie the set at 24, but the Cowgirls rallied with a 3-1 run to win the set 27-25. UMHB led by five halfway through the third but HSU fought back to tie it at 15. The set knotted from there with neither team leading by more than two points before the Cowgirls closed it on a 2-0 run for the 2-1 match advantage.
UMHB took control in the fourth set with
Alyssa Christiansen serving 14 consecutive points at the open.
Hannah Frasca and
Dravyn Hurd led the Cru with four kills each in the stretch. UMHB extended the lead to 19-1 with five consecutive points served by Maddie Gillespie, evening the match with a 25-9 win in the fourth.
The Cowgirls led early in the fifth but UMHB fought back with a five-point run to take a 14-13 lead in the fifth. Hardin-Simmons responded but
Hannah Frasca closed it with back-to-back kills for a 16-14 UMHB win.
Frasca led the Cru with 28 kills, tying the program record for kills in a five-set match. Frasca hit .318 with just one error in 85 total attempts.
Katie Warden added five 12 kills as UMHB totaled 61 kills on 214 attempts for a .201 percentage.
Ella Brunson totaled 47 assists in the match while
Maddie Gillispie, Frasca and Christiansen each served a team-high three aces. Gillispie led the Crusader defense with 31 digs, followed by
Faith Clark with 19 and Frasca with 17.
McKenna Cowsert led defensive efforts at the net with five total blocks, helping UMHB to a team-total eight.
UMHB returns to action Saturday, October 8th in a 12 p.m. match against McMurry University at the Mayborn Campus Center in Belton.
