WICHITA FALLS, Texas - Midwestern State and Dallas Baptist combined for 441 attack attempts, 210 digs and 29 total blocks Tuesday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum.
And fittingly, it was a block by Lauren Zegarelli and Claire Stephen that allowed the Patriots to close out Midwestern on its third match point to take the match by scores of 26-28, 27-25, 25-22, 20-25, 18-16.
The block spoiled a game effort by the gritty Mustangs, who fought back from a sluggish start to explode for 14 kills and hit .231 to force a fifth-and-deciding set with a 25-20 fourth-set victory.
Sophomore outside hitter
Miranda Byrd was the lone standout offensively with 18 kills and just three errors for a stellar .341 hitting percentage as the rest of the Mustangs combined for a .053 kill percentage.
But the Mustangs were about defense as they held the Patriots to a team .123 hitting percentage despite and 18-kill performance by Christina Steinkreiger and a 16-kill effort by Kaylyn Frink.
Sophomore outside hitter
Hillary White led the back row effort with a career-best 33 digs as she became just the sixth player in MSU history with as many digs. White also had the most digs since
Shay Velasquez had 36 at Texas Woman's University on Oct. 24, 2006.
White had plenty of help, though.
Sophomore libero
Kiara Jordan added 28 digs, while
Dimery Michaels had 13 and
Shelbi Stewart and
Kimberly Jeffrey had seven each.
Senior middle blocker
Sesley Graves led MSU's season-best effort at the net where the Mustangs had 16 total blocks.
Graves had seven total blocks (one solo, six block assists), while Byrd and
Lauren Bayer had six total blocks each which included two solos and four block assists. Stewart and White added four and three block assists, respectively.
Dallas Baptist's Amanda Emmert paced the Patriots with a match-high 38 digs, while Kristin Secord paced DBU's net effort with six block assists of its team total of 13.
Midwestern (2-12) opens Lone Star Conference play against Cameron Thursday night at D.L. Ligon Coliseum. First serve is set for 7 p.m.
Dallas Baptist improved to 6-4.