SMU Wins, 3-1, In Conference Opener; Ends ECU's Win Streak

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From SMUMustangs.com:

SMU Wins, 3-1, In Conference Opener; Ends ECU's Win Streak

DALLAS (SMU) – The SMU volleyball team handed East Carolina its first loss of the season, snapping the Pirates' program-best 10-match win streak in the first American Athletic Conference match of the season. The Mustangs won the match 3-1 (25-16, 25-27, 26-24, 25-23), improving to 8-5 overall, 1-0 in The American.

SMU held on in the fourth set to win 25-23 and take the match. With a 24-21 lead, the Mustangs had back-to-back attack errors, allowing East Carolina to get within one point. Kristen Stehling made certain there wouldn't be a third straight extended set, blasting her ninth kill of the match to the floor amidst a circle of Pirates.

Stehling led SMU with a .286 attack percentage as ECU posted 12 blocks in the match. SMU finished with 10 blocks, four by Stehling, reaching double figures for the third time this season. Katie Hegarty led all scorers with 16 kills, and Lauren Mills recorded her fourth double-double of the year with 15 kills and 16 digs. Janelle Giordano also had nine kills and four blocks.

Morgan Heise finished with 23 digs, needing one more to become just the second player in program history with 2,000 career digs. Sidney Stewart set the SMU record with 2,218 digs from 2008-11. The Mustangs had 90 digs as a team, with 18 from freshman-setter Kendall Patterson, who finished with her fifth double-double with a season-high 48 assists.

Trailing 22-20 late in the third set, SMU scored four unanswered points for a two point lead and a set-point opportunity. The Pirates answered with back-to-back kills, tying the score at 24 each, but then Mills hit a kill, and Hegarty served an ace off a Pirate and into the stands to give SMU a 26-24 win for a 2-1 lead in the match.

The two teams combined for nine blocks in the first set, with Adams posting three of SMU's five, but it was the Mustangs on top in the first set with a 25-16 win. The Mustangs scored four straight, picking up points on a pair of service aces by Hegarty, to take a 7-3 lead. The Pirates cut the lead to two just four serves later. SMU answered with an 8-2 run to take a 17-9 lead en route to the nine-point win.

ECU out-lasted the Mustangs in the second set, winning 27-25 to tie the match, 1-1. SMU scored three straight points to take a 16-12 lead, but the Pirates answered against, coming back to tie the score, 18-18. Neither team led by more than a point again until Natalie Montini and Ashton Mares combined to block Hegarty's attack after Mares scored a kill for ECU to win the set. The block was the fifth of the set for the Pirates, while SMU only managed one.

The Mustangs host American Athletic Conference preseason favorite Cincinnati Saturday at 1 p.m. SMU will honor the program's alumni during the match.