Make it four straight sweeps for the Celts.
The University of St. Thomas volleyball team swept Texas College, 25-7, 25-12, 25-5, in dominant fashion Friday night at the Jerabeck Activity & Athletic Center. It came on the heels of Tuesday's sweep at NCAA Division I Prairie View A&M, running the Celts' streak to 12 straight set wins.
"We were able to work on doing things a little faster," UST coach Keanne Burt said. "Again, it's just a nice opportunity to put what you've been practicing into a game situation."
The Celts improved to 21-5 overall, 7-3 in the Red River Athletic Conference. Texas College fell to 1-17, 0-10.
St. Thomas hit .482, putting away 49 kills against eight attack errors. Texas College hit -.056 with 10 kills and 15 errors.
Senior Brooke Garcia (SR/Spring, Texas) pounded 15 kills, had two blocks, and hit .545. It was the second time this season she had double-digit kills against Texas College.
"That's stuff that we've been working on in practices, having a fast swing to be able to get around a block fast," Burt said. "So she was able to put that into play, and it was definitely a good confidence booster for her."
Senior Bresha Orange (SR/Longview, Texas) also had 15 kills, three blocks and a .619 attack percentage. Senior Kayden Thomas (SR/Huffman, Texas) had nine kills, and hit .563. Senior Hannah Westerlage (SR/Dickinson, Texas) had 22 assists, four aces and 18 digs. Senior Lauren Fernandez-Miller (SR/Houston, Texas) had 17 digs.
The Celts opened up an 8-1 lead in the first set when Thomas put away a kill from Fernandez-Miller to complete a 7-0 run. Freshman Alyssa Ajlouny (FR/Cypress, Texas)'s kill on a setup from sophomore Kelsie Walker (SO/Baytown, Texas) extended UST's lead to 20-4. Garcia pounded a kill, and senior Sophie Rigaut (SR/Riedisheim, France ) and Ajlouny combined on a block to cap the first set.
St. Thomas hit .452 in the set on 16 kills and two errors in 31 attacks.
Alexia Nance-Thompson's kill pulled Texas College within 8-6 to begin the second set. But Orange had a kill, freshman Mariah Regan (FR/Katy, Texas) served back-to-back aces, and Ajlouny added a kill to push the Celts ahead, 12-6. Texas College cut the deficit to four, but Walker's kill made it 15-8. Westerlage had two aces, and Garcia had three kills as the Celts extended their lead to 21-9. A St. Thomas service error cut it to 23-12, but Orange's kill sealed the second set.
UST hit .444 with 16 kills and four errors in 27 swings in the second.
Westerlage served St. Thomas to a 20-2 lead in the third set as she ripped off 16 straight service points, which included two aces. Back-to-back kills by Orange put the match away.
The Celts had 17 kills and two errors on 27 attempts in the final set for a .556 percentage.
St. Thomas meets Division III Mary Hardin-Baylor (22-3) and Hardin-Simmons (15-10) in a pair of non-conference matches in Belton, Texas on Saturday.
"The games tomorrow with the two Division III opponents are going to be another faster-paced test of putting plans together," Burt said, "seeing what areas we need to continue to work on, leading into practice next week of our last conference weekend."
Jim McCurdy
