AUSTIN – The St. Edward's Hilltoppers volleyball team opened the season with a pair of losses, falling to the Barry Buccaneers and Dallas Baptist Patriots in three sets each.
Barry 3, St. Edward's 0 (29-27, 25-13, 25-18)
St. Edward's utilized a varied attack early to work around Barry's towering front row. The Buccaneers featured three players in Courtney Zwikker, Christy Paul, and Jeyhlen Thomas, who stands 6-foot-2 to 6-foot-5.
The two teams went back and forth in a frenetic first set with 12 ties and four lead changes.
AUDREY QUESNEL stuffed Thomas at the net to give the Hilltoppers a 22-19 lead in the set, prompting a Barry timeout.
Barry reeled off a four-point run to tie the set before a service error put St. Edward's at set point. Both sides exchanged big swings in a back-and-forth thriller until a St. Edward's service error halted its run, giving the Buccaneers the edge and eventual set on an ensuing Hilltoppers' attack error.
The Buccaneers carried the momentum into the second set, hitting a blistering .364 in the second set. The Hilltoppers regained their footing in the third set but struggled with the Buccaneer's block and Diana Akopova's explosive attack.
Akopova led all players with 18 kills on a .300 hitting percentage, combining explosive leaping ability and a big swing.
MAYA SMALLS paced the Hilltoppers with 11 kills on a .281 clip, varying her jumps to disrupt the timing of the Buccaneer block.
DBU 3, St. Edward's 0 (25-19, 25-16, 25-21)
St. Edward's faltered in the second set for a second consecutive match, falling in three sets to Dallas Baptist in front of a raucous home crowd.
Playing without outside hitter
CAROLINE SWAN, the Toppers lacked some of its firepower up front. Smalls led St. Edward's again with eight kills on an efficient .3368 hitting percentage, and first-year
KYLIE LOQUERCIO flashed glimpses of her potential with seven kills.
It wasn't enough to overcome Dallas Baptist's AJ Koele, who led the match with 19 points on 17 kills and two blocks, hitting at a .258 clip. The Patriots were at their best in the second set with a match-high 17 kills on a .353 hitting percentage.
St. Edward's opens the season 0-2 with matches against Harding and Edward Waters on Saturday.
