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Cowgirls Advance To ASC Championship
SEGUIN, Texas — Hardin-Simmons' volleyball team won a pair of games on Friday to advance to the American Southwest Conference Championship game for the fifth time in the last six years.
Hardin-Simmons defeated No. 24 Texas-Dallas, 21-25, 25-22, 25-16, 25-18, in the semifinals. The Comets were the No. 1 seed from the ASC East. HSU was the only ASC team to beat UTD this season and they did it twice.
UTD won the first game, after the Cowgirls had jumped out to an 8-1 lead. HSU responded with a strong second game. HSU won the third game thanks to another strong start. HSU led 15-7 at one point. The Cowgirls again took control of the fourth game after it was tied 9-9, HSU went on a 10-2 run to make it 19-11 and the Cowgirls held on for the victory.
The Cowgirls played great defense throughout the match. HSU limited the powerful Comet attack to an .098 hitting percentage, while HSU hit .172. HSU had 75 digs in the match and had 20 block assists and four solo blocks.
Gracen Harris led the defense with 22 digs and freshman Christine Sas had 17 to go along with a team-leading 13 kills. Madison Reyes added 12 kills for the Cowgirls. Senior Bri Addison had a solo block and seven block assists.
Junior setter Kaitlin Mitchell also had a double-double with 17 assists and 10 digs. Erin Davis had 21 assists for the Cowgirls.
Amber Wertz had 14 kills to pace UTD and she also had 25 digs. Dana Hilzendager added 13 kills.
In the quarterfinals on Friday afternoon, HSU defeated UT-Tyler
25-16, 25-20, 25-22. The Cowgirls received 17 kills and a .406
hitting percentage from Reyes. Davis delivered 23 assists, and
Harris collected 18 digs.
HSU is now 20-7 on the year, marking the fourth straight year the
Cowgirls have won 20 games. HSU will play the winner of Texas
Lutheran and McMurry in the Championship at 5 p.m. on Saturday. The
Cowgirls will be looking for their second title.
