Volleyball Downs Rice 3-2 On Senior Day

[PonyPride]

From SMUMustangs.com:

Volleyball Downs Rice 3-2 On Senior Day
Mustangs Improve To 25-5 On The Season

Nov. 21, 2010

DALLAS (SMU) - The SMU volleyball team defeated Rice 3-2 (21-25, 25-17, 21-25, 25-20, 20-18) on Senior-Day on Sunday afternoon at Moody Coliseum. Sophomore Courtney Manning led the Mustangs with nine kills and only one error to post a .471 hitting percentage. She also added nine blocks on the afternoon.

With the win, SMU moves to 25-5 on the year and in now 17-2 in Conference USA action.

"Somehow we find a way to win," Head Coach Lisa Seifert said. "This was not our best performance, but I'm very proud of the way that we have stayed mentally tough. I'm proud of the effort, I'm proud of the fact that we're 25-5, I'm proud of my seniors."

The Mustangs put up a complete team performance today as four different players earned more than 20 digs and three players reached double digits in kills. Junior Sidney Stewart led the Mustangs with 27 digs. SMU also collected 15 total team blocks and won the match on a block by Manning and junior Dana Powell.

Caitlin Adair, Kenzie Bukolt and Kathryn Wilkerson were all honored during the pre-game ceremonies for Senior Day. Adair had seven kills and six blocks, while Wilkerson collected 15 kills and 26 digs.

"As a group, when we recruited our seniors and signed that class, we knew that the class was a turning point in our program," Seifert said. "There are going to be ebbs and flows with your program, but when they came in, we knew that they would help us get to the next level - and they have."

This graduating class led the Mustang program to new levels of success during their careers. This season, they have won 25 matches, a single-season record, and are currently ranked second in Conference USA. Over the past four years, these three seniors have won 74 contests, the most ever for a graduating class at SMU.

SMU closes out the final game of the regular season at Tulsa Saturday, Nov. 27 at 2 p.m. The Conference USA-leading Golden Hurricane defeated the Mustangs 3-2 in Dallas Oct. 6.

[DanFreibergerForHeisman]

Awesome job - but we never should have gone to five against Rice.

Maybe we got caught looking ahead to Tulsa. It's nice to know we had the heart to pull out the win.