The SMU volleyball team placed second in the 2005 SMU Invitational Saturday after a 3-0 (30-16, 30-26, 30-17) loss in the championship match to Texas Tech.
The Mustangs started the tournament on Friday afternoon with a 3-0 (30-22, 30-21, 30-24) win over Stony Brook. Sophomore outside hitter Caitlin Rainbird led the Mustangs in kills, hitting .333 on 13 kills. Sophomore outside hitter Rachel Giubilato finished with 11 kills and 17 digs while senior middle blocker Kelly Larkan earned her 13th career double-double with 10 kills and 12 digs.
Also contributing to the Mustang victory were freshmen middle blocker Natalie Peters, with eight kills and four blocks, and senior middle blocker Ashley Zenner, who had eight kills and hit .429 for the match. Junior libero Jennette Evanco had 22 digs while sophomore setter Madison Hill posted 44 assists and seven digs.
The Mustangs continued their success in the second match of the tournament with a 3-1 (30-27, 30-14, 18-30, 30-20) victory over Oral Roberts Friday night. Zenner led the team with 10 blocks. Larkan contributed six blocks and Peters recorded six. Together, the team recorded 17.5 blocks for the night, the third highest in SMU history.
Rainbird, who aced her serve to win the match, earned her third career double-double with 12 kills and 14 digs, while Giubilato had her second double-double of the day with 18 kills and ten digs.
Evanco led the team in digs with 20. Hill, with 40 assists, and Larkan also posted double-digit figures for digs.
Hill also led the team in Saturday’s match against Tech with 21 assists and 10 digs. Peters had 11 kills, while Rainbird had 16 digs, followed by Giubilato and Evanco, each with ten.
Larkan, Evanco and Rainbird all earned honors on the 2005 SMU Invitational All-Tournament Team. This was something Evanco had not expected.
“I was really surprised, but I was happy,” Evanco said. “It was cool.”
Despite the team’s loss in the final round, Evanco said the tournament showed the promise of success that the Mustangs are likely to have this year.
“I think we definitely played to our potential and gave a good view of what we can do in the upcoming season,” Evanco said.
The Mustangs travel to Durham, N.C. Sept. 9 for the Duke Invitational where they will take on Cornell, Duke and Charlotte. Junior Whitney Salcer thinks the team will be very successful.
“I think we’re going to have a really hard week of practice,” Salcer said, “but I think we can win.”
