2018 Heartland Volleyball Championship Central
LUBBOCK, Texas – It was a day for the lower seeds as No. 4 St. Edward’s and No. 3 UAFS punched their tickets to the 2018 Heartland Volleyball Championship final on Saturday.
No. 4 St. Edward’s def. No. 1 Lubbock Christian, 3-2 – BOX SCORE
In the tournament’s first semifinal, St. Edward’s knocked off top-seeded Lubbock Christian for the third time this season surviving a thrilling 3-2 (25-22, 13-25, 25-21, 14-25, 15-11) match.
The Hilltoppers got double-digit kills from seniors Mikayla Parker (19), Kate Hendrix (12) and junior Alexa McAndrew (13) to stave off elimination at the hands of the tournament’s top seed. Morgan Beckham led the way digging out 22 balls for SEU. She was one of four players with double-digit kills including McAndrew who registered a double-double. Setter Julia Hartley also picked up a double-double with 14 digs and 34 assists. With the win SEU improved to 18-11.
For the Lady Chaps it was just their ninth loss of the season as they fell to 21-9. LCU got a match-high 40 digs from senior libero Kelsie French who was just seven digs short of the all-time record for digs in a five-set match. Fellow senior Lauren Zoller registered a season-high 24 kills on .281 hitting against the Hilltoppers. Freshman Bradi Marshall recorded her 16th double-double of the season in the loss.
St. Edward’s will play in its first championship match since 2014 when the Hilltoppers fell to UAFS in five sets 3-2.
No. 3 UAFS def. No. 2 St. Mary’s, 3-0 – BOX SCORE
UAFS was dominant in a 3-0 (25-20, 25-20, 25-13) sweep of St. Mary’s avenging a pair of regular-season losses to advance to its eighth-straight conference championship match.
The Lady Lions hit .270 as a team and were led by a pair of double-digit kill performances from Anna Demmer (14) and Rachel Williams (16). Williams had arguably her best match of the season hitting .417 on 36 total attacks from her outside position. Demmer picked up a double-double with 12 digs to pair with her 14 kills on .273 hitting. She also recorded one service ace in the match. Freshman setter Taylor Stoops averaged 12.33 assists per set as she dished out 37 in the match. Senior Debra Rogers came up with three critical blocks for UAFS who used a tough defense and service game to keep the Rattlers out of system. UAFS improved to 19-11 on the season.
The Rattlers dropped to 14-15 overall on the year and suffered their first loss to UAFS this season. StMU was held to just .107 hitting as a team and had just one player reach double-digit kills in freshman outside hitter Alissa Tolbert. Freshman middle blocker Rachel McDonald had her second-highest block total this season sending back seven Lady Lion attacks while committing no blocking errors.
With the win UAFS advances to face St. Edward’s in the championship match where the Lady Lions will look to win their fourth tournament title in five seasons.