Season Stats

DALLAS (SMU) - The SMU volleyball team won its first conference championship, clinching at least a share of the 2015 American Athletic Conference Championship with a 3-1 win against Houston (25-14, 25-15, 26-28, 25-17) in Moody Coliseum Sunday afternoon. The win was the 15th straight for the Mustangs, extending the program record. SMU improved to 25-3 overall and 15-1 in The American.

Four Mustangs reached double digits in kills in the win, led by Abbey Bybel and Kristen Stehling, who each scored a team-high 13 kills. Katie Hegarty finished with 12, and Janelle Giordano added 10. Avery Acker had 52 assists and eight digs. The senior entered the weekend as the national leader in assists per set. Morgan Heise led the defensive effort with 32 digs, matching Dana Powell for second all-time at SMU with 1,641 assists.

The Mustangs clinched the championship with a 25-17 victory in the fourth set. Leading by one, 12-11, SMU went on a 6-1 run to take an 18-12 lead. Houston (17-11, 7-9 The American) managed just five more points the rest of the way. SMU scored the last three points, with kills by Hegarty on the final two to get the sophomore to double digits, sending the crowd of 878 into an uproar as streamers filled the air.

Houston held on late to win the third set 28-26 and avoid the sweep. The Cougars led by two twice down the stretch, 18-16 and 22-20, but SMU rallied to tie the score both times. Bybel scored a kill on Houston's first set point, and Stehling scored on the next point to give SMU a chance at the set, but the Cougars answered with a kill. The Mustangs had one more chance at the set, leading 26-25, but three straight errors, including an ace on the final point, gave the set to Houston. The Cougars hit .317, their highest attack percentage in a set, while SMU hit just .130, despite scoring 13 kills.

Trailing 5-4 in the first set, SMU went on a 9-1 run to take a 13-6 lead, cruising to a 25-14 win. SMU scored on five kills and an ace during the stretch, finishing the set with 17 kills and just two errors, hitting .366 for the set. Stehling led the Mustangs with five kills in the set, and Heise had 11 of SMU's 21 digs. Houston was held to just 10 kills, hitting .206.

SMU won the second set 25-15 to take a 2-0 lead in the match. The Mustangs took an 11-2 lead to start the set, scoring on five kills and taking advantage of six Houston errors. SMU forced the Cougars into 10 errors in the set with just nine kills, hitting -.026. SMU had 14 kills in the set, four each by Bula and Hegarty.

The Mustangs play at Connecticut Friday night and at second-place Temple Sunday on the final road trip of the regular season. SMU needs just one win in the final four matches to win the championship outright.