Box Score
Season Stats
DALLAS (SMU) -- The SMU volleyball team won three straight sets to come back and beat rival TCU 3-2 (23-25, 19-25, 25-20, 25-19, 15-13), erasing a 2-0 deficit for the first time since beating then-No. 24 Oklahoma 3-2 last season. Cailin Bula, Abbey Bybel and Kristen Stehling each had 14 kills. Janelle Giordano scored 13 kills, and Katie Hegarty added 10, giving the Mustangs five players in double figures for the first time this season.
After winning two consecutive sets to even the match, the Mustangs (9-2) took a 5-2 lead to start the decisive fifth set. SMU doubled its lead with five of the next seven points, taking a commanding 10-4 lead in the race to 15. Trailing by three, 14-11, TCU (9-2) scored a pair of points to cut the lead to one, but Stehling scored a kill on the final point to give SMU the win.
Morgan Heise recorded 34 digs in the match, which is tied for seventh all-time at SMU. The junior had five in the fifth set alone. Avery Acker posted her eighth double-double of the season with a season-high 67 assists and 18 digs. Bybel posted her fourth of the season with 14 kills and 14 digs.
The Mustangs won the third set 25-20, out-scoring TCU 9-3 down the stretch to overcome a 17-16 deficit. SMU scored four of the first five points, but TCU came right back to get within one, 7-6. With the scored tied at 9-9, neither team led by more than two points until SMU scored the last four straight for the win. Both teams hit .289, but SMU had 16 kills to TCU's 14.
SMU forced a fifth set with a 25-19 win in the fourth set, holding TCU to a .023 attack percentage with 28 digs, nine each by Heise and Acker, who nearly had a double-double in the fourth set alone, scoring 12 assists. Leading 5-4, the Mustangs went on an 8-2 run for a 13-6 lead. The Horned Frogs never got within four points the rest of the way. Bula led the Mustangs with five kills, and Stehling added four.
SMU overcame an early six-point deficit, taking its first lead at 19-18, but couldn't hold on for the comeback win as TCU won the first set 25-23. The Horned Frogs scored five of the first six points, and stretched the lead to six, 11-6, before the Mustangs charged back. Trailing by four, 15-11, SMU went on an 8-3 run to take the lead, 19-18. TCU scored three of the next four to retake the lead, 21-20. With TCU serving for the set, Kristen Stehling smashed a kill to fight of the first set point, but SMU was called for a double hit in transition trying to tie the score, falling 25-23.
The Mustangs dropped the second set 25-19 after the Horned Frogs rallied for a 12-3 run to end the set. SMU led 16-13, but couldn't even the match. After posting 22 digs and four blocks in the first set, the Mustangs had no blocks and only 12 digs in the second set. TCU finished with five blocks, and hit .379 in the second set with just two errors. SMU scored more kills, 15-13, but had eight attack errors.
SMU hit .244 as a team, scoring 74 kills to TCU's 62. The Horned Frogs finished with 14 blocks, while the Mustangs had 10, and SMU recorded 91 digs to TCU's 87. SMU hosts UTSA Saturday at 3:30 p.m. in the final match before starting American Athletic Conference action at Houston and Tulane next week.
