The SMU volleyball team split their away matches this weekend but lost some ground in terms of seeding for the Conference USA tournament. The Mustangs went into the weekend tied for fourth but now are in a tie with Marshall for fifth.
Over the weekend, the Mustangs fell to the University of Southern Miss Golden Eagles on Friday (17-25, 25-19, 25-11, 25-12) before taking down the University of Central Florida Golden Knights on Saturday (23-25, 25-12, 25-20, 25-16).
SMU came out strong in the first set behind sophomore Dana Powell, who hit .455 for the first set and staked the Mustangs out to a 19-12 lead. SMU would hold the Golden Eagles and take the first set. In the second set, Southern Miss out-dueled the Mustangs at the end when it counted, racking up seven of the last eight points to break a deadlocked match and take the set.
The Mustangs fell apart in the third and fourth matches, managing only eight kills in the third set and allowing the Golden Eagles to hit .560 for the set. Southern Miss tallied 15 kills and committed only a single hitting error in the set. With the win, Southern Miss extended their winning streak to 12 matches, which currently leads the league.
Powell notched her 18th double-double of the season, 10 kills and 10 digs, which leads all of C-USA, but it was not enough to lift the Mustangs to victory.
Last year, the UCF Golden Knights knocked off the Mustangs in tournament play but have since fallen down in the standings. Currently, the Golden Knights are third-to-last in all of C-USA.
SMU, still smarting from their defeat to the Golden Eagles on Friday, started off slow against UCF, falling behind early in the first set and were unable to complete a comeback to take the set. However, the Mustangs shook off that set by taking the next three sets, never trailing in any of them.
The second set helped build the Mustangs’ confidence: SMU surged with 16 kills while hitting .467 for the set and easily took the second set. From that point on, the Golden Knights never threatened again.
The match against UCF was, without doubt, one of SMU’s best offensive showings this season. Four Mustangs had at least 10 kills and the team only committed 10 total errors, a season-low.
Sophomore Kathryn Wilkerson led all Mustangs with 17 kills while Powell recorded another double-double with 12 kills and 12 digs. Sophomore Kelli Becerra also had a double-double, her 16th of the season with 51 assists and 10 digs.
