PHILADELPHIA (SMU) – The SMU volleyball team clinched at least a share of its second straight American Athletic Conference championship with a 3-1 (25-22, 25-17, 22-25, 28-26) win at Temple Wednesday.
Trailing by three late in the fourth set, 18-15, SMU scored three straight to tie the score, getting two kills from
Brittany Adams. The Mustangs recaptured the lead, and had the first attempt to win the set, serving with a 24-23 lead. The Owls scored the next two points, forcing SMU to fight off a set point. The Mustangs scored twice with Temple serving for the set, and took a 26-25 lead on a kill and a block. Temple scored one more point, with Adams scoring her 18th kill of the match before Hegarty blocked a Temple attack for the 28-26 win.
SMU is 24-7 overall, and with a 17-2 record in The American, the Mustangs lead Cincinnati by one match. Temple fell to 21-8, 14-5 in The American, as SMU earned its first victory at Temple, improving to 1-3 on the road in the series, 4-5 all-time.
Adams led all attackers with a career-high 18 kills, hitting .517. Hegarty scored 17 kills, and
Lauren Mills finished with 15 kills and 11 digs for her 10th double-double of the season.
Kendall Patterson recorded 53 assists, one shy of her career-high, as the Mustangs hit .343 with 64 kills in the match.
Morgan Heise had 14 digs, and
Montana Watts added nine.
Kristen Stehling scored seven kills and posted a match-high five blocks.
The Mustangs took a 2-0 lead in the match with a dominating 25-17 win in the second set. SMU hit .400 with 15 kills, while holding Temple to a .200 attack percentage with 12 kills. Trailing 5-4, the Mustangs went on a 7-1 run, taking a 11-6 lead over the Owls. Temple cut the lead to three, 13-10, but two points later, SMU went on a 6-0 run to take a 20-11 lead en route to the win.
SMU took control of the match, holding on in the first set for a 25-22 victory. The Mustangs led 18-11 before Temple stormed back into the set. The Owls used a 5-1 run to cut the lead to three, 19-16. After SMU scored the next two points, Temple scored three straight to cut the lead to two, 21-19. After a Temple kill made it 23-21, Hegarty scored a kill to give SMU a set-point chance. Temple fought off the first attempt, but Stehling scored a kill to end the set.
Temple forced the fourth set with a 25-22 win in the third set. SMU led 21-16 before the Owls scored five of the next six points to tie the score, 21-21. The Owls held the Mustangs to just one more point, ending the set with a 4-0 run to avoid the sweep.
The Mustangs play at Connecticut Friday at 12 p.m. ET/11 a.m. CT. With a win, SMU would win the conference title outright and clinch the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
