Volleyball dominates UTEP, 3-0

Going into Thursday night’s volleyball game at MoodyColiseum, the SMU Mustangs (6-4, 1-0 WAC) and the UTEP Miners (5-4,0-1 WAC) seemed to be an even match.

But records leave a lot to be seen, and the Mustangs made thatobvious by sweeping the Miners in three games (30-21, 30-18,30-12). The match only lasted a little over an hour — atestament to SMU’s dominating play.

The Mustangs were a little shaken by their preseason, especiallyafter a disappointing 1-3 record at last weekend’s Sugar BowlClassic tournament, which was held at Moody Colliseum due toHurricane Ivan. But the team was determined to push that out oftheir minds, start WAC play with a clean slate and come away withone in the win column.

“We always play awesome against [UTEP],” juniorsetter Jessica Mihm said after the game. “I think everyonewas a little nervous because of our tournament and how we playedpreseason, but just like last year, we were shaky during preseasonand we did awesome during the season. I know that’s gonnahappen — we’re gonna do awesome. Everyone was sodetermined to win. We had a lot of chemistry on thecourt.”

That chemistry was evident on both sides of the ball Thursdaynight. On defense, SMU held UTEP to a .094 hitting percentage aswell as posting 63 team digs and 7 team blocks over the course ofthe match. UTEP’s biggest threat was sophomore middle blockerAshley Ripple. SMU held her to 5 kills.

The team’s offense was also noteworthy with a .339 hittingpercentage over the course of the match and a .561 hittingpercentage in the third game. Junior middle blocker Ashley Zenerlead the team as far as hitting percentages with 11 kills and only1 error for a .588 overall match percentage.

Even though the team went into the game expecting a win, theywere still relieved to come away with the victory.

“Anytime you win, you feel good,” Head Coach LisaSeifert said. “We had a tough weekend last weekend. We losttwo matches we felt we should’ve won. But we increased theintensity in practice, had a great week and that was the plan. Weneeded that one so it was good to get it over with.”

Among the night’s other highlights were senior setterJackie Erazmus’ school record-tying 8 aces. The only othertime in SMU history a player has served 8 aces in a three-gamematch was on Sept. 29, 2001, when Sara Warner served 8 againstBoise State.

Other impressive performances came from three players who haddouble-doubles and one more who came within one dig of the sameaccomplishment. Mihm had 42 assists and 11 digs, senior outsidehitter Jacky Niederstadt had a team-best 13 kills and 12 digs,senior outside hitter Beth Karasek had 11 kills and a team-best 17digs while senior middle blocker Kelly Larkan had 11 kills and justmissed the double-double with 9 digs.

Although records may be misleading, the Mustangs will face BoiseState who owns a daunting 10-2 (1-0 WAC) record on Saturday at 2p.m. for their Family Weekend match.

Boise State opened WAC play on Thursday night as well and beatLouisiana Tech (3-9, 0-1 WAC) in a three-game sweep similar toSMU’s. Until Thursday, the Mustangs were concentrating onUTEP. The sweetness of their first conference win of the seasonwill be quickly moved aside however, as they prepare for what willlikely be a more difficult match against the Broncos.

“We’ll talk about Boise State tomorrow,”Seifert said about the team’s thoughts on the upcoming match.”Boise’s on a run, they’re, I think, 10-1 rightnow. So that’s definitely something we’ve got to talkabout, but the plan is always the same, to win.”

And of course, the team is convinced they will win.

“I’m not too worried,” Mihm said.”[Boise State hasn’t] been playing as tough competitionas we have. We’ve been playing against some pretty toughteams. It might be closer [than tonight], but I’m definitelynot worried about them at all.”

The Mustangs hope to pack the gym for this weekend’smatch.

Mihm encourages fans to “come support volleyball!It’s really fun to watch.”

Saturday night will tell whether the team’s confidence iswarranted, and whether they can start a winning streak in WACplay.