SMU Volleyball Defeats East Carolina
{fshare id=5642}
DALLAS (SMU) – The Mustangs defeated East Carolina 3-0 (25-23, 25-21, 25-16) in Moody Coliseum Sunday afternoon, improving to 16-4 for the season, including a 10-1 mark at home, and 5-3 in the American Athletic Conference. ECU fell to 9-8 overall, 2-6 in The American.
Caroline Young finished with a match-high 11 kills and tallied 10 digs, recording her fifth double-double of the season and back-to-back double-doubles for the first time this season just two weeks after suffering an ankle injury in the first set at Memphis. The senior hit .323 in the match with just one error in 31 attempts.
SMU ended the match with a 25-16 victory in the third set. After coming from behind to win the second set, the Mustangs raced out to an 8-3 lead in the third. SMU stretched the lead to seven, 15-8, and the Pirates never got to within five the rest of the way.
Abbey Bybel finished the match with 10 kills and 12 digs, posting her ninth double-double of the season, and Avery Acker tallied 38 assists and a team-high 13 digs for her team-best 15th double-double of the year. Morgan Heise also had 10 digs and five assists.
Acker and Kristen Stehling combined for SMU’s second block of the
first set to give the Mustangs a 25-23 victory. SMU scored 10 of the first 15 points, and looked to be in complete control, but the Pirates battled back, taking an 18-17 lead with their third block in a row. With the scored tied 23-23, Bula blasted a kill, setting up the first attempt at set point and the winning block. Bybel led the offense with five kills, and also recorded seven digs in the set.
SMU came back to win the second set 25-21, taking a 2-0 lead in the match. The Mustangs trailed 20-17 before going on an 8-1 run to take the set. SMU scored kills on three of four points, getting two from Young, to take a 21-20 lead, and then scored four of the next five to close the set. The Pirates got their lone point during the stretch on a service error by SMU. Young paced the SMU offense with six kills, hitting .545 in the set. SMU hit .308 as a team, with just three attack errors.
The Mustangs begin a stretch of four straight road matches Friday at Temple at 7 p.m. ET/6 p.m. CT. SMU returns to Moody Coliseum on Nov. 7 against Memphis.
