Volleyball wins American Athletic Conference Championship

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

SMU Wins American Athletic Conference Championship

DALLAS (SMU)- SMU volleyball swept North Texas 3-0 (25-18, 25-13, 27-25) to clinch the outright American Athletic Conference Championship on Saturday afternoon in Moody Coliseum. The Mustangs (23-6, 17-1 AAC) claimed the conference's automatic NCAA Tournament bid with Friday's victory over UNT.

The Mustangs won their 13th straight match and earned their seventh consecutive sweep and 16th of the season. SMU tallied 55 kills to UNT's 31, and outhit the Mean Green .364-.267. SMU finished with eight aces. Three Mustangs finished with 10 plus kills, and two turned in double-doubles.

Naya Shime tallied third double-double of the season with 13 kills on .611 hitting and 11 digs. Shime added two aces, a block, and an assist. Jamison Wheeler turned in her seventh double-double of the season with 10 kills and 10 digs, and added one assist, two aces, and a block. Lauren Ohlinger led the way for the Mustangs with 14 kills and added two aces and three digs.

Celia Cullen passed out a team-high 40 assists, and posted six digs and a career-high five kills. Sina Uluave notched 10 digs and passed out five assists, while Brooke Frazier chipped in four digs and two assists. Emma Clothier finished with seven kills and two blocks, and Natalie Perdue tallied three kills, including the final two of the match. Alex Glover finished with two kills, and Casey Batenhorst passed out two assists and added a pair of aces.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

Set One
Starting the match for SMU were Jamison Wheeler, Lauren Ohlinger, Emma Clothier, Alex Glover, Naya Shime, Celia Cullen, and Sina Uluave. SMU came out strong after a service ace and kill from Shime, and two more from Ohlinger and Clothier, along with a UNT attack error, gave SMU five unanswered to start the match and forced a Mean Green timeout. Back-to-back kills from Wheeler extended the lead to 10-2. SMU maintained control throughout the middle part of the set, and two straight kills from Cullen and Wheeler extended the lead to nine. Two kills from Shime and an ace from Wheeler sparked four unanswered to counter a UNT run, and Ohlinger's third kill of the match sealed a 25-18 set one victory.

Set Two
Clothier and Wheeler each recorded kills before teaming up for a block that sparked a 4-0 run that countered two early points from the Mean Green. Kills from Clothier and Cullen put SMU ahead 9-3 and forced a UNT timeout. Ohlinger tallied two more kills, and Shime and Clothier teamed up for a block to push the lead by seven. Two Ohlinger aces and kills from Clothier and Wheeler sparked five unanswered, putting the Mustangs ahead 20-9. Back-to-back kills from Shime and one from Ohlinger capped off a dominating 25-13 victory in the second frame.

Set Three
A Batenhorst ace, Wheeler kill, and UNT attack error sparked the first of two 3-0 runs that put SMU up 11-7 and forced a UNT timeout. Cullen tallied her career-high fifth kill to push SMU's lead to five points. Five unanswered from the Mean Green knotted the set at 19 apiece. Shime answered with an ace and a kill, and Ohlinger tacked on her 14th of the match to put the Mustangs up 23-20. SMU called a timeout after UNT scored three in a row to tie the set back up at 23. The teams battled back and forth, and with the set tied at 25, Perdue tallied two straight kills to seal a 27-25 victory.

SMU LEADERS
SMU Kills Leader: Lauren Ohlinger (14)
SMU Assist Leader: Celia Cullen (14)
SMU Digs Leader: Naya Shime (11)
SMU Blocks Leader: Emma Clothier (2)
SMU Ace Leader: Four with two

TEAM RECORDS SERIES NOTES
With the win, SMU improved to 23-6 on the season, and 17-1 in conference.
Friday was the 16th meeting between SMU and North Texas. SMU leads the all-time series 13-3.

TEAM NOTES
SMU claimed its third conference title and first since the 2016 season.
SMU won its 13th consecutive conference match.
SMU picked up its 16th sweep of the season and seventh in a row.
SMU is 17-0 when leading in kills.
SMU is 21-1 when leading in service aces.
SMU is 17-2 when leading in assists.
SMU is 17-1 when leading in digs.
SMU turned in a higher attacking percentage than its opponent for the 23rd time this season.
Three Mustangs tallied 10+ kills for the 10th time this season and second straight match.
SMU turned in its third highest hitting percentage of the season (.364). The Mustangs hit .354 in yesterday's match.
(vs. South Florida-.444).
(vs. Memphis-.396)
(vs. UNT-.354)
(vs. UNT-.364)

INDIVIDUAL NOTES
Lauren Ohlinger led the Mustangs in kills with 14 for the second time this season and tallied double digits for the fourth time this year and second straight match. She added two aces and three digs.
Jamison Wheeler tallied her seventh double-double of the season (10 kills, 10 digs). Wheeler tallied double-digit kills for the 17th time this season and digs for the 10th. She added one assist, two aces, and a block.
Naya Shime turned in her third double-double of the season with 13 kills on .611 hitting and and 11 digs. Shime tallied double digits for the 12th time this season and added two aces, a block, and an assist.
Celia Cullen passed out a team-high 40 assists. The senior setter has led the Mustangs in every match this season. She added six digs and a career-high five kills.
Sina Uluave tallied double-digit digs (10) for the 23rd time this season and passed out five assists.

[BUS]

How does the volleyball team rank nationally?
Top 30?

[lawkota]

How does the volleyball team rank nationally?
Top 30?

#25 per NCAA's RPI (but only getting a handful of votes in the coaches' poll)
#31 per Massey

Opportunity tonight to move up the board w/ game against Pepperdine, who are #41 NCAA and #28 Massey.

[PonyPride]

Swept a solid Pepperdine team tonight, too

[Terry Webster]

Saw the interview with the coach after the game. She is really impressive. She is building a good program.

[lawkota]

I think this team is underrated. On the 11/1 projections, they got an 8 seed in the tourney. But I think they are deserving of a 3 or 4 seed. They won't get that, but I'm hoping they can snag a 6 seed and avoid having to play a 1 or 2 in the second round.

[Hop Sing]

Saw the interview with the coach after the game. She is really impressive. She is building a good program.

Couldn’t find the postgame interview you referenced, but found this from a year ago and you are right, impressive!
https://youtu.be/ZP8Cdihb4gM?si=tdcmgJWmlhaJH2Ut

[Terry Webster]

Saw the interview with the coach after the game. She is really impressive. She is building a good program.

Couldn’t find the postgame interview you referenced, but found this from a year ago and you are right, impressive!
https://youtu.be/ZP8Cdihb4gM?si=tdcmgJWmlhaJH2Ut

If you head to espn3 it is right after the match against Pepperdine.

[Hop Sing]

Saw the interview with the coach after the game. She is really impressive. She is building a good program.

Couldn’t find the postgame interview you referenced, but found this from a year ago and you are right, impressive!
https://youtu.be/ZP8Cdihb4gM?si=tdcmgJWmlhaJH2Ut

If you head to espn3 it is right after the match against Pepperdine.

Thanks for the info, just watched it and she’s great.

[Terry Webster]

Finished off the regular season with another sweep. Really impressive. i hope that the win against Pepperdine gives them so extra cred and that they get a decent seed.

[mtrout]

Yes they are killing it. No pun intended. Great job by the women. Their last 9 games have been 3-0 victories!

[Hop Sing]

They deserve a good seeding in the tournament. They should have made the top 25 this week, so I hope the committee doesn’t have the same bias.