BELTON, Texas – Sweeping their way into the American Southwest Conference Championship match, no. 2 seed East Texas Baptist University took their first match in the post season in straight sets, 25-10, 25-10, 25-17, over no. 6 seed Howard Payne University. ETBU is now 24-3 and will play for the ASC Tournament Championship for the second year in a row.
This marks the first time that ETBU will play in back-to-back ASC Tournament Championships since 2001 and 2002. ETBU has won three ASC Tournament Championships and played in six overall.
Recording an outstanding .339 hitting percentage, ETBU had 46 kills in the match 17 kills in the first set. They hit .462 in set two with 15 kills and only three errors on 26 attempts.
Graycee Mosley hit .333 with 15 kills and 10 digs for her 18
th double-double of the year.
Avery Reid recorded nine kills with a .444 hitting percentage and
Hannah Perry added a .421 hitting percentage with nine kills.
Lillie Hill finished with 15 digs while
Sydney Temple had 14 assists and
Lexi Moody 10 assists. ETBU also had eight blocks.
After HPU took a 1-0 lead to start set one, ETBU reeled off five straight kills with three from Mosley and two from Perry. HPU cut the lead to two, 6-4, but ETBU scored seven of the next eight points for a 13-5 lead. Mosley had three kills with a service ace while
McKenzie Mansell also had a service ace. HPU stopped the run with one point but didn't put out the offensive fire. ETBU responded with five straight points and an 18-6 lead. Reid posted two kills and Rachel Spicer had one kill. After another point from HPU (18-7), ETBU won seven of the next 10 points for the 25-10 win. Perry gave ETBU the final point for the set win on a kill.
Set two started off exactly like set one as HPU took a 2-0 lead this time. ETBU fired back with a 7-1 run for the 7-3 lead. Mosley posted four of the points off kills while Spicer and had a kill and service ace. Perry also added a kill in the run. HPU was within two, 7-5, but ETBU went up 10-5 with three straight points with two kills – one by Perry the other by
Anita Hancock. HPU added a point but four more straight points put ETBU's lead at eight, 14-6, with kills from Reid, Mosley, and Moody. HPU made a short three-point run (14-9) but another ETBU run made it 19-9 with five straight points. Hill had two service aces in the run with a kill by Reid. Once again, HPU added one point to stop the ETBU run but the Tigers finished on a 6-0 run for a 25-10 set two win. Reid had two kills and Moody added two service aces.
HPU made set three the closest set at 25-17. Tied at four, ETBU scored four straight points with kills from Perry and Hancock and a Mansell service ace to make it 8-4. HPU pulled to within two, 10-8, but two Yellow Jacket errors put the lead back at four for ETBU, 12-8. ETBU won five of the next seven points for a 17-10 lead with a service ace from Reid and in that time. HPU scored their 11
th point but ETBU won the next five points for a 22-11 lead. Spicer, Perry, and Mosley had kills. A Hancock kill put the lead at 23-12 but HPU scored five of the next six points to come within seven, 24-17. Hancock ended the match with a kill on an assist from Mansell for the 25-17 win.
ETBU will face host Mary Hardin-Baylor at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday for the ASC Tournament Championship.
