Volleyball rallies in third set to sweep Houston

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From SMUMustangs.com:

SMU Sweeps Houston Sunday
Adams Led Mustangs With 12 Kills

DALLAS (SMU) – The SMU volleyball team swept Houston (25-23, 25-23, 25-21) Sunday afternoon for its second American Athletic Conference win. Brittany Adams led the team with 12 kills, and Lauren Millsscored 11 to lead the Mustangs to a 2-0 mark in conference matches, improving to 8-5 overall.

The Mustangs came back in the third set to complete the sweep with a 25-21 win. The Cougars (4-6, 0-2 The American) scored the first five points of the set, and maintained the five-point lead, 15-10, after holding off SMU attempts to cut into the deficit. Previously, the Mustangs were unable to get within two points of Houston. This time, SMU scored four straight during a 7-1 run, taking a 17-16 lead, its first of the set. Houston scored the next two points, but the Mustangs scored six unanswered for a 23-18 lead, determined to end the match in three. The Cougars scored three more points before Katie Hegarty ended it with her eighth kill of the match.

SMU held Houston to a .111 attack percentage, recording nine blocks and 59 digs. Kendall Patterson assisted on 36 of SMU's 42 kills. Mills and Adams each posted double-doubles with 14 and 13 digs, respectively. Meryn Kennedy scored seven kills with four blocks, while Lexi Nordmann added three kills and five blocks.

SMU scored kills on four of its first five attack attempts, and got a pair of blocks from Kennedy, taking a 6-1 lead to start the first set. It looked early as if it would be an easy set win, but the Cougars made SMU earn all 25 of the points required to win the set. With the SMU lead still five, 11-6, Houston rallied back for four straight points, cutting the lead to one, 11-10. The Mustangs stretched the lead back to five, 16-11, getting the first two points of the run on kills by Mills. Houston again cut the lead to just one, 17-16. The Cougars were within a point of tying the score six more times down the stretch, but the Mustangs held on for a 25-23 win in the first set.

The Mustangs took a 2-0 lead in the match with another two-point set win in the second, this time in comeback fashion. Houston led 21-19, but SMU scored three straight to take a 22-21 lead. After a Houston timeout, Adams smashed a kill, and then Patterson dumped on the second touch for a kill, giving SMU the set-point opportunity, 24-21. Houston scored twice before Nordmann scored the final point for the 25-23 win. Adams had seven of SMU's 15 kills in the set.

SMU plays at East Carolina Friday and at Cincinnati Sunday on the first road trip of conference play.