WICHITA FALLS, Texas – The Midwestern State Mustangs served up a tough loss for St. Edward's, defeating the Hilltoppers volleyball team in five sets (23-25, 25-21, 18-25, 25-14, 16-14) to open conference play.
CAROLINE SWAN returned from injury and made her season debut, giving the Hilltoppers a potent one-two punch at the net alongside MAYA SMALLS.
Swan opened the first set with four points, totaling three kills and two blocks assists, and Smalls was phenomenal with seven kills on 13 attacks (.467 hitting percentage) and a service ace to lead the Hilltoppers to a 25-23 opening-set win.
St. Edward's attack struggled mightily in the second set. Five different players had three kills for Midwestern State in the set while the Hilltoppers had as many attack errors (six) as kills to drop the set 25-21 to even the match.
The Hilltoppers rallied in the third set when ESTHER GRUSSING found a connection with AJANI HODGES, serving to the middle blocker for five kills on seven attacks to retake the lead with a 25-18 win.
Midwestern State dominated the fourth set, setting the tone at the serve line with five aces in a 25-14 set to even the match.
Both teams went back and forth in the fifth and final set with five ties and a pair of lead changes. Swan asserted herself with four kills on eight attacks with one error and the Hilltoppers got out to an early 9-4 lead after a block by AUDREY QUESNEL and LOURDES GOMEZ.
Midwestern State battled back to tied the set at 14-14 on a bad Hilltopper set and Alex Serna closed the match with back-to-back aces to clinch it for the Mustangs.
Smalls led St. Edward's with 14 kills on a .261 hitting percentage, adding three block assists and an ace for 16.5 points. Swan added 12 kills on a .256 clip with two aces and two block assists for 15 points. Hodges contributed nine kills on an efficient .428 hitting percentage with a pair of block assists. Grussing led the match with 44 assists, and SARAH KONOVODOFF and Gomez had 25 digs each.
St. Edward's fell to 3-9 and 0-1 in the LSC with the loss. The Hilltoppers will travel to Denton, Texas, tomorrow to face Texas Woman's University (10-3).
