BELTON, Texas – The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor volleyball team fell to East Texas Baptist University 3-0 in the American Southwest Conference Championship game Saturday afternoon in Belton.
The first set opened point-for-point before the Tigers used a four-point run to go ahead 6-3. UMHB evened it back up 6-6 with a duo of kills and a service ace. ETBU briefly reclaimed the lead before the Cru used a six-point run to go ahead by four and force an ETBU timeout. The Tigers responded, knotting it up 16-16. The first-set continued with 11 more even scores before the Tigers earned set-point at 23-22. UMHB fought off four more set points before ETBU finally scored two back-to-back points for the 29-27 win.
The Tigers jumped to a quick 9-4 lead in the second set. ETBU continued their momentum holding a lead as large as 14 at the 21-7 mark. The Cru fought back with a 5-2 run, but could not overcome the deficit, falling 25-14.
UMHB earned three unanswered points to open third-set action. The Tigers used a four-point run to take the high ground 4-3 before the Cru mirrored to go ahead 8-5. ETBU fought back with eight unanswered points to take the lead 15-11. UMHB used a three-point run to bring the set within one at 18-17 but ETBU fought back with a late 5-1 run to complete the match with a 25-20 win.
Katie Warden led the Cru with 10 kills while
Hannah Frasca added nine.
Ella Brunson anchored the UMHB offense with 24 assists. Frasca and
Maddie Gillispie led defensively with 16 and 12 digs, respectively.
UMHB closed out their 2023 campaign with a 27-2 overall record. The Cru earned the regular season ASC title while going 13-1 in conference play.
