After last Sunday’s sweep against the East Carolina Pirates, SMU’s Women’s Volleyball traveled to El Paso on Friday to take on Conference USA rivals, the UTEP Miners.

In the first two periods of the match, the Miners held the court 25-22 and 25-23. The match looked bleak for the Mustangs, although the first two periods had been close in final scores. It would take serious commitment and team work for the Mustangs to overcome the obstacle of such a deficit in this match and they did. The team would come back to win the next three periods 25-20, 25-21, and 15-12.

In the first two periods, UTEP’s attack percentages clearly dominated SMU’s. However, the attack percentages of the next three periods illustrate SMU’s return to victory over. SMU had an overall raise in their level of play which clearly affected and somewhat lowered that of their opponents.

The notable contributions to the team came from senior outside hitter Kathryn Wilkerson and junior outside hitters Dana Powell and Jessica Oliver. Wilkerson had a team high of 20 kills and 13 digs. Powell had 12 kills and 20 digs. Oliver had 14 kills and 10 blocks.

This return from the depths of 2-0 set score in a five set match demonstrated the determination of the Mustangs. The Women’s team simply did not lay down even though they had come had subsequently come up short. A team with the ability to recognize the moments when it truly counts to leave everything on the court will continue to prove victorious even in the most trying matches.