No. 12 volleyball tops Cal, improves to 14-5

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Three Mustangs Notch Double-Digit Kill In Win Over Cal

DALLAS (SMU) – No. 12 SMU volleyball closed the week with a four-set victory over Cal (10-10, 2-6 ACC) Sunday afternoon at Moody Coliseum. After falling in the first set, SMU took the next three with scores of 22-25, 25-17, 25-17, and 25-23.

With the win, the Mustangs improved to 14-5 on the year and 6-2 in the ACC.

Maya Tabron led the Mustangs with 18 kills, hitting .316 for the match while adding ten digs. Jamison Wheeler followed Tabron against the Bears with 14 kills, hitting .333 with 11 digs. Naya Shime logged 13 kills and five blocks Sunday afternoon.

Celia Cullen paced the Mustang offense that hit .292 for the match, with a season-best 49 assists and nine digs. Brooke Frazier led the Ponies defensively with 13 digs against the Bears, her season high, while Nnedi Okammor added six blocks to go along with her eight kills.

SMU had a season-most 59 assists Sunday and outdug the Bears 55-52.

MATCH NOTES:
Tabron notched her sixth double-double, 13 double-digit kill, and seventh double-digit dig outings of the season.
Wheeler logged her seventh double-digit dig outing of the season and fifth double-double of the year.
Shime went for 10+ kills for the 14th time this season and for the third straight match.
The match was the second meeting between the two programs.
With the win, SMU tied the overall series with Cal at a game each
Cullen became the seventh player in program history to earn 3,000 assists at SMU.
SMU improved to 6-3 at Moody Coliseum this season.
The Mustangs are now 10-2 this season when two or more players have 10+ kills.

HOW IT HAPPENED:
SET ONE | Cal raced off to an early advantage, collecting the first two points. SMU got both points right back to even the score, but Cal went on a 4-0 run to take a 6-2 lead. The Mustangs slowly fought their way back to even the score 9-9 with a solo block from Foster on the tail end of a 3-0 run. SMU took their first lead at 15-14, scoring two straight, coming on kills from Shime. The Mustangs went up 17-15 before a three-run spurt gave Cal back the lead (18-17). Cal closed out the set with four of the final five points, including three straight to wub opening frame 25-22. SMU hit .190 in set one, while Cal hit at a .179 percentage clip.

SET TWO | After falling in set one, SMU had a hot start in the second frame. After taking a 4-2 lead, SMU rallied off five straight to take a 9-3 lead. A small momentum swing went the Bears' way as they cut their deficit to three (16-13), but SMU responded with a three-point run of their own on a service error by the Cal and back-to-back kills from Foster to take a 19-13 lead a force the Bears to talk things over. The Mustangs' lead was too much for Cal to overcome as SMU regrouped after the first set loss to win the second 25-17, capped off by a kill from Wheeler. SMU hit .444 in the second frame, let by Foster, who had five kills on seven swings.

SET THREE | The Ponies took the first two points in the third set on a kill from Tabron and a solo block from Wheeler. After a service error by SMU that gave Cal a 5-4 advantage, the Mustangs went on a 4-0 scoring run, two of those points coming on kills from Tabron, to take a 9-4 lead. Cal answered moments later with a 4-0 run of their own to draw within a point (10-9), forcing a SMU timeout. Another four-point swing for the Mustangs gave them more separation. They were then able to stretch their lead to as much as nine. Cal fought off two set points, but a kill from Okammor put the finishing touches on the third frame in SMU's favor with a set score of 25-17. SMU held Cal to a .070 hitting percentage and hit .343 themselves, led by Wheeler with five kills.

SET FOUR | After a back-and-forth fourth set, SMU used a four-point scoring run to take an 11-7 lead. Cal swung back to even the score at 14 all, followed by another quality response for the Mustangs; SMU went score four straight again to take an 18-14 lead, with three of the four kills coming on kills from Tabron. A late Cal rally tied the match 20-all. The clubs traded points until the 23-23 mark, where SMU closed the match, scoring on an attack error by the Bears and a kill from Foster to take the final set 25-23. Tabron erupted for seven kills in the four-set.

SMU LEADERS:
SMU Kills Leader: Maya Tabron (18)
SMU Assist Leader: Celia Cullen (49)
SMU Digs Leader: Brooke Frazier (13)
SMU Blocks Leader: Nnedi Okammor (6)
SMU Ace Leader: Celia Cullen/Casey Batenhorst (2)

UP NEXT:
SMU Volleyball will host Notre Dame at Moody Coliseum on Friday at 7 p.m. CT on ACCNX.