It wasn't easy, but UAFS will play for the Heartland Conference Volleyball Tournament Championship.
The No. 1 seed Lady Lions survived a third-set, let-down on Friday night to beat the No. 4 seed Dallas Baptist Patriots in four sets in the first of two first-round matches at the Stubblefield Center.
UAFS won the match 25-11, 25-22, 17-25, 25-24 to extend its winning streak to 24 matches and improve to 13-2 all-time against Dallas Baptist.
The Lady Lions (25-3) will play No. 2 seed Newman (26-8) at 1 p.m. in the championship match at the Stubblefield Center.
Live statistics and
webcast will be available.
The conference tournament champion will earn the conference's automatic bid to the South Central Region Tournament, which will held on Dec. 3-5 at yet-to-be-determined site. The conference tournament champions from the Heartland, Lone Star and Rocky Mountain Athletic conferences all qualify for the region tournament, as do five at-large teams based on their final rankings in the region poll.
UAFS is No. 6 in the latest poll, while Newman is No. 7.
It will be the Lady Lions' fifth-consecutive appearance in the conference tournament championship match. In fact, since becoming an active NCAA Division II member in 2011, the Lady Lions have never failed to reach the title match.
UAFS beat St. Edward's in four sets in the 2011 championship match at the Recreation and Convocation Center in Austin, Texas, beat St. Edward's in four sets in the 2012 championship match at the Stubblefield Center in 2012, lost to Dallas Baptist in five sets in the 2013 championship match at the Stubblefield Center and beat St. Edward's in the championship match in five sets last year at the Stubblefield Center.
UAFS compiled a 0.230 hitting percentage with 54 kills on 148 attempts with 20 errors. Junior middle hitter Shannon Thompson led the Lady Lions' front-line attack with 11 kills, while junior middle hitter Merrisa Murphy had 12 kills and junior middle hitter Payton Hamilton and senior right-side hitter Abigail Phillips had 10 kills apiece.
Senior setter Whitney Mills had 42 assists. Junior libero Emily Tripp served two of the Lady Lions' five aces.
Defensively, Dallas Baptist had seven total blocks. Freshman middle blocker Madeline Dolberry had three total blocks. Sophomore defensive specialist Brooke Manley had 16 digs, while freshman outside hitter Lauren Nicks had 15 digs.
UAFS held Dallas Baptist to a 0.110 hitting percentage with 45 kills on 164 attempts with 27 errors. The Patriots' best offensive performance, obviously, came during the third set, when they compiled a 0.237 hitting percentage to claim their only set win.
Defensively, UAFS had 12 total blocks. Thompson had three total blocks. Tripp had 25 digs, while Mills had 20 digs and senior defensive specialist Macy Ayulo 16.
Junior middle hitter Carly Hess and sophomore defensive specialist Brooke Stanley had nine kills to lead the otherwise balanced Patriots' offense. Freshman setter Hannah Hester had 22 assists, while senior Kaycie Bird had 17 assists.