Box Score AUSTIN, Texas – AMY JONES and
HANNAH RAUCH both had season-highs in kills as they combined for 36 in a thrilling five-set victory over Dallas Baptist Saturday afternoon on Senior Day at the Recreation and Convocation Center. The 25-19, 25-27, 25-13, 20-25, 15-11 increased the Hilltopper conference winning streak to seven matches and vaulted them past Dallas Baptist into second place in the Heartland Conference.
St. Edward's (13-14, 11-5 HC) jumped out to an early 5-3 lead on the strength of two aces by
KELLY JIMENEZ. With the score tied, 12-12, the Hilltoppers pulled away from Dallas Baptist (13-15, 10-6 HC) with the help of
MARY KOEHLER's five kills and four kills from Jones. St. Edward's hit .385 as a team during the set.
In the second set, the Hilltoppers again held an early lead at 9-5.
ANNA AYCOCK had the hot hand with three kills during the opening stanza. Aycock had two more kills, along with two from Jones to increase the St. Edward's lead to 19-11. Dallas Baptist cut into the lead, using a 9-4 run and made the score, 23-20. Tiara Iwegbu came up with two kills for the Patriots as they rallied to take the set, 27-25.
The third set was dominated by the Hilltoppers from the start. Jones and Koehler combined for nine kills as St. Edward's hit .441 as a team. That gave the home team a 25-13 shellacking of Dallas Baptist.
Dallas Baptist came out firing in the fourth set trying to knot the score at two sets each. Erika Papadeas had two kills as the Patriots took the early lead, 10-4. St. Edward's got back in the game, going on a 14-10 run to cut the lead to 20-18. However, Dallas Baptist proved to be too much, scoring five of the last seven points to send the match into a winner-take-all fifth set.
Both teams held even at 6-6, early on. That is when Rauch took over the match. The sophomore outside hitter produced five kills down the stretch as St. Edward's completed the 15-11 victory.
Jones led the Hilltoppers with a career-high 19 kills on 47 attempts. She also had nine digs. Four other Hilltoppers finished with double-digit kills: Rauch (17), Koehler (15), Aycock (12) and
ELISSA STANTON (12). Koehler produced her fourth-straight double-double with a career-high 28 digs.
LOREN KELLY led St. Edward's with 41 assists and three aces, while Jimenez chipped in with 21 digs.
St. Edward's will be back in action Thursday when they travel to Lubbock to take on Heartland Conference newcomer Lubbock Christian. First-serve is set for 7 p.m. The Lady Chaps defeated the Hilltoppers in Austin earlier this season. Live video and stats are available on the Chap Athletic Website.
