RICHARDSON, Texas – After falling behind 1-0 at the start of the match, Southeastern Oklahoma State won three straight sets to defeat UT-Dallas 3-1 in the final non-conference match of the season.
"What a great non-conference match we had tonight," said head coach
Nicole Solum-Mitchell. "UT Dallas is competitive and has a lot of grit. I'm proud of our fight tonight, said coach Solum-Mitchell."
D'Nari Mills paced the SE attack, recording a match-high 22 kills on a .283 attack average, and added 18 digs to her totals for a double-double. Like Mills,
Ruthie Forson notched a double-double with 32 assists and 14 digs.
Alexis Williams tallied a team-high 6.0 total blocks and finished with the second-most kills with 10.
Patience Lewis saw 28 digs, while
Faith Kruebbe and
Andrea Urzua combined for 25.
SET ONE
Southeastern led 8-5 after a 5-0 burst featuring a pair of kills by Williams, but the Comets were quick to reply with a flurry of points to regain the advantage 10-8. The two sides traded leads again following a 4-0 burst by SE and a 5-1 run by UT-Dallas.
From there, neither side could find any separation, with the set tied at 15-all and later 17-all. The Comets soon found a breakthrough on a burst of points to take a 20-17 lead, but the Storm battled back to tie the frame 21-all after a kill and block by Williams. The frame saw two more ties at 24-all and 25-all before UTD secured the final two points to win the set 28-26.
SET TWO
A fast start from Southeastern had the Storm leading 7-3 at the first break after a timeout from UTD. SE stretched its lead to 10-5 and later built a 4-0 run capped off by an ace from Lewis to grow its advantage to 15-9. Southeastern stayed in control with a pair of kills by Moffett in a 4-0 run to extend the lead to 20-11 and would go on to win the second set 25-18.
SET THREE
A back-and-forth start had the two sides tied at 8-all and later 13-all. SE began to find separation, starting with a 3-0 burst and back-to-back kills by
Noelia Rocha, leading 17-14. Three kills by Mills pushed the blue-and-gold ahead to 23-19, and later, back-to-back attack errors by the Comets secured set three for the Storm 25-19.
SET FOUR
Back-to-back aces by Kruebbe helped give the Storm an early 5-2 advantage, but UTD was quick to respond, tying the set 6-6 on a 3-0 run. Southeastern went back in front with four kills and later built a 5-0 run featuring two kills by Forson to stretch its advantage out to 18-11.
UT-Dallas battled back, cutting SE's lead to two on a pair of 3-0 runs before Williams ended the flurry of points with a kill to give the blue-and-gold a 23-20 edge. Mills slammed down two straight kills to win the set for the Storm 25-20.
Southeastern (11-13, 6-6) heads to Ada for its next match in a rivalry showdown with East Central on Monday, Nov. 4 at 6 p.m.
