Box Score:
BELTON, Texas - LeTourneau volleyball's journey reached its final stage Friday night after the YellowJackets fell to the University of Texas at Dallas, 25-12, 25-16, 25-17, in the American Southwest Conference Championship semifinals at Mary Hardin-Baylor.
LETU finished the season 17-10, 11-7 ASC. The Comets (16-9,13-4 ASC) move on to the championship match to face off against host UMHB Saturday at 2 p.m.
The Jackets struggled in the first set, only putting down six kills. UTD hammered down 14 kills, hitting a match high .313 to claim the first set.
LeTourneau got down early in the second set, falling behind 7-1 before back-to-back kills from
Kaci Monk, sandwiched by a UTD attack error, got the ball rolling for the YellowJackets. LETU would battle back, taking a one-point advantage after four consecutive attack errors by the Comets and a serving ace by
Samantha Winkel, gave the Jacket a 9-8 lead. After a serving ace and back-to-back putaways by Catherine Croft, the Comets took an 11-10 advantage.
Kianna Crow smashed down a kill to deadlock the match at 12, but an 8-3 run by UT-Dallas pushed its lead to five, 20-15.
Hannah Payan blasted one to the UTD side of the net to pull within four, but a 5-0 Comet run ended LeTourneau's chance of a comeback.
The YellowJackets tallied six kills, hitting .107 in the set. UT-Dallas had 15 kills, creating a .205 attack rate.
In the third and final set, LETU found itself trailing 9-3 until three consecutive kills by Crow and Monk from Winkel and
Courtney Edge ignited a 5-0 run. In the run,
Allison Smith also tallied two blocks to pull the Jackets within one, 9-8. After two key attack errors committed by LeTourneau and back-to-back kills from UTD's Madison Ball and Erin Rogers, LETU could not fight its way back, ultimately falling in the final set.
Inside the Numbers:
Crow finished with eight kills, 10 digs, two blocks, and a serving ace.
Edge totaled 13 digs and three assists.
Monk had seven putaways and two rejections, while Payan had three kills, one dig and a block.
Winkel tallied eight assists and three digs.
Natalie Davenport had seven assists and seven digs.
Winkel also had a serving ace.
Smith put together three blocks.
The YellowJackets totaled more digs, 48-46. UTD outblocked LETU 6-5.
