UTSA Escapes McNeese State in Southland Tournament
Photo Gallery
HUNTSVILLE, Texas - The No. 2 seed UTSA escaped the No. 7 seed McNeese State in five sets to advance to the semifinal round of the Southland Conference Volleyball Tournament in Huntsville, Texas.
In a tug-of-war match, McNeese took an early commanding lead in game one (25-13). UTSA responded with wins in the second (25-21) and third (27-25) games. McNeese took game four (25-19) forcing a decisive game 5. UTSA took the final game (19-17) after sophomore outside hitter Whitney Walls drove home the winning kill after nine match points.
The Roadrunners had three players with double-doubles led by first-team all-conference selection senior Kendra Rowland with a team-leading 18 kills and 22 digs. Sophomore outside hitter Andee Josserand had 12 kills and 13 digs and first-team all-conference selection Kelsey Schwirtlich had a match-high 54 assists with 16 digs.
McNeese was led by sophomore outside hitter Priscilla Massengale with a career-high 21 kills. Sophomore setter Becky Bekelja recorded her third career game of 50-plus assists (53) and 13th career double-double with 19 digs.
With four consecutive losses in the first round of the Southland tournament, UTSA advances to its first semifinal round since 2005. The Roadrunners will play the winner of match two between No. 3 seed Texas State and No. 6 Lamar.
All seven matches of the 2010 tournament will be streamed live for free on SLC NOW and the championship match will be televised by the Southland Conference Television Network.
Quotes:
UTSA Head Coach Laura Neugebauer-Groff (who won her 400th career match on Friday):
"To win in the first round and it be my 400th it means a lot," Neugebauer-Groff said. "You have to give McNeese State a lot of credit for the way they played. But, when the challenge was ahead of us, we responded."
UTSA senior outside hitter Kendra Rowland
"It wasn't a picture-perfect win," Rowland said. "All season we've had our motto of 'the comeback kids.' We've been in these situations before where we've had to come back late in the game and that's what we had to do today."
McNeese State Coach Terry Gamble
"They gave everything I could ask. They executed the game plan. We just caught a bad break at the end. I couldn't be more proud of our girls for the effort they gave."
Junior libero Katie Kennedy
"This is the hardest we've played all year. I thought it was taken away from us. I didn't want it to end this way, but we played hard as a team."
Sophomore setter Becky Bekelja
"We played amazing. I'm proud of everyone, we just came up short in the end."