Volleyball splits with Northeastern, Harvard

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From SMUMustangs.com:

Mustangs Win Five-Set Thriller Against Northeastern
Young named to Aztec Invitational All-Tournament team

Sept. 14, 2013

SAN DIEGO (SMU) - The Mustangs went to a fifth set for the third straight match, but this time it was SMU celebrating the final point. Maddie Lozano dumped the ball at the net into the back right corner to give the Mustangs a 15-12 win in the fifth set for the 3-2 victory (25-21, 20-25, 26-24, 19-25, 15-12).

"One thing about this young team, and I will never use youth as an excuse, but we will fight you until the very end," head coach Lisa Seifert said. "The way we have had bodies flying all over the floor this weekend, grinding out every point, we will never stop fighting."

SMU (6-4) needed every bit of that fight against Northeastern (4-6). The Mustangs trailed early in the fifth set, and once they took the lead, they watched two-point advantages get erased twice. The third time, SMU's senior middle blocker made sure the Mustangs wouldn't get on the bus disappointed for a third time in her home state.

Lozano finished the match with eight kills and seven blocks. Caroline Young posted her first double-double of the season with 20 kills and 13 digs, both season highs, and was named to the Aztec Invitational All-Tournament team. Abbey Bybel scored 10 kills with 11 digs for her second double-double of the season, and Dana Edwards recorded 50 assists and 11 digs in place of starting setter Avery Acker. Freshman Morgan Heise had 16 digs in the win.

The Mustangs held on at the end of the third set, winning the dogfight, 26-24, to take a 2-1 lead. SMU led by four early in the set, 8-4, and again late in the set, 19-15, but the Huskies rallied to take a 23-22 lead. After Bula blasted a kill, Heise served an ace to give the Mustangs the lead back, 24-23. Northeastern killed off the first set point, but Young scored a kill, and Edwards shoved one over instead of setting the attackers for the final points of the set.

The Huskies sent the match to a fifth set with a 25-19 win in the fourth. SMU was just 10 points away from winning the match with a three-point lead, 15-12, but Northeastern scored four straight for a 16-15 lead. The Mustangs were held to just four points down the stretch, unable to keep the match from going an extra set.

Northeastern evened the match with a 25-20 win in the second set, scoring five straight midway through the set to take a 17-12 lead. SMU stopped the rally with a kill from Bula, but the damage was done. The Huskies kept the advantage to tie the match. Bula led the SMU offense with four kills, but the defense was limited to just one block and 11 digs.

The Mustangs went down 5-1 early in the first set, and trailed by five after the first 15 points, but SMU scored five straight to even the score, 10-10. SMU took its first lead of the set when Bybel scored a kill for a 17-16 lead, and the Mustangs never scored again. SMU stretched the lead to four, 20-16, and scored back-to-back points to get to 25 and hold off the Northeastern charge for the 25-21 win. Young had five kills in the set, and three different Mustangs had four digs each.

SMU will compete in the College of Charleston Invite next weekend, facing the host Cougars Friday at 6 p.m. CT. The Mustangs will also face Ball State and Alabama A&M in the tournament on Saturday.



SMU Edged Out By Harvard In Fifth At Aztec Invitational
Young scored match-high 15 kills; Acker posts second consecutive double-double

Sept. 14, 2013

SAN DIEGO (SMU) - The Mustangs won back-to-back sets to force a fifth set against Harvard, but after SMU scored three straight to tie the score 14-14, the Crimson scored the next two for a 16-14 set win, taking the match 3-2 (25-23, 25-19, 22-25, 18-25, 16-14). Caroline Young led the offensive attack with 15 kills, and Avery Acker had 50 assists and 12 digs for her second straight double-double.

SMU beat Harvard in nearly every statistical category, including kills, 59-57, digs, 63-49, and blocks, 11.0-10.0, but came up two points short for the second consecutive match. The Mustangs erased a 5-0 deficit in the fifth set, tying the score 8-8, and found themselves facing match point, down 14-11. SMU again rallied to tie the score before the Crimson ended the match.

Abbey Bybel scored 11 kills, and Janelle Giordano and Maddie Lozano each finished with 10, giving SMU four players with at least 10 for the second straight match. Morgan Heise had a team-high 13 digs, and Bybel and Young each had nine. Lozano had seven blocks, including three solos in the match.

The Mustangs extended the match with a 25-22 win in the third set. SMU trailed by three midway through the set, but rallied to eventually take a 20-19 lead. Bybel served the last two points, as the Mustangs scored three straight for the win. Young scored five kills in the set, and SMU posted three blocks.

SMU used the momentum gained from the third set victory to build a 16-9 lead in the fourth, scoring six straight during the run. Harvard fought off three straight set points before SMU was able to seal the win with a kill by Young, her fourth of the set.

Bybel scored five of her 11 kills in the first set, but the Crimson scored the last three points of the set to win 25-23 for the early advantage. SMU hit .406 as a team, and was better than Harvard in every column on the stat sheet, but Harvard scored when it mattered the most, answering SMU's 3-0 run for a 23-22 lead with its own 3-0 run to take the set.

SMU tied the second set at 18-18, but Harvard went on a 7-1 run to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match with the 25-19 win. The Mustangs managed just nine kills, hitting .100, while the Crimson scored 15 with a .379 attack percentage. Neither team led by more than three before Harvard's run to end the set.

The Mustangs play their final match at the Aztec Invitational tonight against Northeastern at 7:30 p.m. CT. SMU is on the road the next two weekends before returning home to host Louisville on Oct. 4.