The SMU volleyball team improved to 20-5 overall and 12-2 in conference play with a 3-1 set victory over Marshall on Friday night at Moody Colesium.
The Thundering Herd got off to a great start early, taking the first set 25-19 and leading early in the second. However, the Mustangs would rally to take the second set 25-22. SMU dominated the next two sets 27-25 and 25-21 to win the match.
SMU outside hitter Dana Powell recorded her team- leading 18th double-double of the season. The junior recorded 16 kills and 16 digs against Marshall. Fellow outside hitters Kathryn Wilkerson and Jessica Oliver tallied 14 and 12 kills respectively.
Mustang setter Kelli Becerra notched 53 assists in the match, which is the second highest total for the junior this season. She also registered five kills and had a match high .444 percent hitting percentage.
Senior Caitlin Adair, who was named to CoSIDA’s Academic All-District team, also contributed with nine kills and three blocks.
This is only the third time in program history that the Ponies have reached 20 victories. SMU is currently second place in Conference USA.
Unfortunately, the SMU women’s soccer team did not fair as well on the field as the volleyball team did on the court.
The ladies suffered a heartbreaking 2-0 loss at the hands of the UCF Knights in Friday night’s Conference USA Tournament semifinal match in Orlando.
The Knights got on the board early, when Kim Newsome took advantage of SMU turnover and put the ball in the back of the net in the third minute.
UFC was not done. Later in the first half, the Knights added to their lead courtesy of Nicolette Radovic.
Katie Jackson fired a shot on goal, but SMU goalkeeper Courtney Webb was there for the save.
However, Radovic scored off the rebound in the 29th minute.
Webb, who led Conference USA with 47 saves during the regular season, finished the game with seven saves.
The score would remain 2-0 for the rest of the game, and the Ponies were sent home packing. With the loss SMU falls to 11-7-4 on the year and now must await the NCAA Tournament selection, which is slated to take place Monday.
