THE LEAD
Returning to the Heartland Conference Tournament since their championship run in 2013, the No. 4 seeded Dallas Baptist Volleyball Team fell to No. 1 seeded University of Arkansas-Fort Smith in four sets, 3-1 in the first round.
Carly Hess and
Brooke Manley both led DBU with 9 kills and
Hannah Hester turned in 22 assists. Manley also had a team high 16 digs and was named to the All-Tournament Team.
After falling behind in the first set of the evening 4-1, DBU answered back. Sparked by a kill by
Lauren Nicks, the Lady Patriots scored four of the next five points to trail UAFS, 5-4. As the match progressed, the Lady Lions would begin to pull away from the Lady Patriots stacking multiple point streaks. With UAFS up 14-9, they would go on a eight point streak to go ahead of DBU, 22-9. The Lady Lions went on to close out the first set 25-11, going up 1-0 in the match.
Despite trialing the majority of the second set, DBU played UAFS close and it would pay off. Down 13-11, the Lady Patriots gained the advantage against the Lady Lions scoring four off the next five points capped off by back-to-back kills by
Jenna Elkins putting DBU up 15-14. UAFS tied the set and regained the lead to leave the Lady Patriots trailing by only one point late in the set. A Cassandra Frietag kill would help the Patriots close in 21-20 in favor of the Lady Lions. UAFS responded with two scores to create a three point deficit for DBU that they used to keep the Lady Patriots at bay and take the second set, 25-22 going up 2-0 in the match.
Attack errors by the Lady Lions to begin the third set gave the Lady Patriots momentum as they went on to engineer a 6-1 lead. Scores from
Sidnee Jo Fitzpatrick helped fuel the run with DBU scoring seven of the next 11 points, extending their lead 13-5. UAFS would then begin to start chipping away at the lead built by the Lady Patriots, trailing 16-13 mid-set before a DBU time out. Ahead 18-16 after a UAFS rally, the Lady Patriots put on a big run to put away the Lady Lions. Starting with a
Brooke Manley kill, DBU went on a rally scoring seven of the next eight points with a
Madeline Dolberry kill sealing the set for DBU 25-17 getting their first win of the night.
In the fourth set the Lady Lions jumped out to a 11-3 advantage, before DBU was able to counter with scoring of their own to cut the UAFS lead down to three with the score 12-9. That would be the closest the Lady Lions would allow the Lady Patriots before they started pulling away and going up by as much as 12 points with a 22-10 lead. UAFS finished the set 25-14. closing out the match 3-1, and moving on to the championship round of the Heartland Conference Tournament.
COACH'S QUOTE"The girls, battled we have a young team and I am proud of them. We accomplished a lot this year having injuries, a young team and some hard matches. We had great leaders on and off the court. Our seniors Kaycie and Tadam played a huge role in making the final four." - Coach
Cathy Kokel INSIDE THE NUMBERS81 Number of digs registered by UAFS to DBU's 67
12 Number of blocks registered by UAFS to DBU's 7.
5 Number of UAFS players to register double digit kills to DBU's 0.
