AUSTIN – St. Edward's volleyball celebrated seniors CAROLINE SWAN, MADDI BROWN, MAYA SMALLS, and AJANI HODGES with an impressive 3-1 victory over the Oklahoma Christian Eagles on senior day.
Family, friend, and teammates brought decorations, flowers, and refreshments, but Smalls and Swan provided the offensive fireworks, combining for 29 of the Hilltoppers' 52 kills. Hodges and Brown helped fortify a defense that held the Eagles to a .107 hitting percentage.
Hodges contributed three block assists, a solo block, and dampened multiple other attacks with her presence at the net. Brown added 11 digs and made an impact with her serves, recording two aces and several others that took Oklahoma Christian out of system.
Smalls and AUDREY QUESNEL formed a potent one-two punch in the first set, combining for nine kills on 23 attacks. Quesnel added a pair of block assists and SARAH KONOVODOFF and LOURDES GOMEZhad seven digs each to help the Hilltoppers limit the Eagles to .093 hitting in a 25-23 win.
The second set was heavily contested with nine ties and four lead changes. St. Edward's created separation with a 10-6 run to take a 24-20 lead, but could not close the set out in a prolonged scoring drought to fall 24-26 and even the match.
St. Edward's dug in defensively in the third set, limiting Oklahoma Christian to nine kills on a .051 clip. The Hilltoppers played clean volleyball, committing only three attack errors in a balanced attack paced by Smalls and Swan notching three kills each in a 25-16 win.
The Hilltoppers chose their spots well in the fourth set, getting three kills on four attacks from Swan (.750), and four kills on 11 attacks (.273) from Smalls to close out the match with a 25-17 win.
Smalls led the Hilltoppers with 17 kills while Swan was an efficient .458 on 12 kills off the bench with three block assists. Quesnel contributed seven kills on a .375 clip with six block assists. Konovodoff led the HIlltoppers with 20 digs, and NATALIA WALLS and ESTHER GRUSSING combined for 37 of the team's 46 assists. The Hilltoppers also compiled eight aces led by Konovodoff's four.
St. Edward's improves to 8-16 with a 5-8 conference record. The Hilltoppers will host Dallas Baptist University on Wednesday at 6:00 p.m.
