SAN ANTONIO, Tex. - No. 3 Cal Lutheran set the tone early and never let up en route to a 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-16) victory over UT-Dallas on day two of the 2013 NCAA Division III Volleyball Tournament hosted in Sam's Gymnasium at Trinity University.
Consistency was key again today as Kylie McLogan, Allie Eason and Hayley Tamagni allreached double figures for kills with 17, 12 and 11, respectively, while Jackie Russell set the ball a match-high 31 times. Four different Regals had a dozen or more digs as Pua Mo'okini-Oliveira led the pack with 16. Defensively, Lauren Rohach had the only solo block of the match and added a pair of block assists while Tamagni tallied three block assists.
After CLU opened a 3-0 lead in the first set, UTD was forced to use a pair of timeouts at 8-4 and 13-6 as the energy and balance on the court was solid for the Regals from the get-go and was too much for the Comets to handle.
The defense at the net was as strong as could be for the Regals who put their hands on many Comets' swings, recording three total blocks and making UTD work hard to keep the ball off the court in the opening game.
Cal Lutheran's athleticism shined through during numerous rallies, including one at 17-11, and though UT-Dallas earned that point, the rally was made possible by a number of phenomenal plays by multiple players on the CLU side.
After the Comets pulled within a pair at 19-17, CLU went on a 5-0 run that included kills from McLoganandTamagni, a block from Tamagni and Caitlin Fransen and a pair of service aces from Kennedy Peters, the second landing right inside the line in the back corner of the court for the 24th point, A McLogan kill put the game away.
In the second set the Comets came out firing, but when CLU erased a 4-2 deficit with four consecutive points on kills from Eason, Rohach and a block from the duo, the Regals took a 6-4 lead and never trailed throughout the remainder of the game. UTD threatened a few times, getting within one at 9-8 and 11-10 but each time Tamagni put the Violet and Gold back up by two with a kill. When the Comets knotted things at 20-20, CLU remained composed and reeled off the final five points, unanswered, with Tamagni providing a pair of kills and McLogan producing a service ace before Mo'okini-Oliveira ended the game with a kill for the 25-20 victory.
After a 10-minute break, the teams exchanged points until Rohach killed it to give Cal Lutheran a 5-4 advantage that the Regals would not surrender for the rest of the afternoon. At 11-8, CLU looked to Eason for three of the next four points with the final one forcing a UT-Dallas timeout. Cal Lutheran pushed its lead to 18-10 and maintained at least a five-point lead until the end.
UT-Dallas (31-9) was paced by Abbie Barth and Taylour Toso who put down eight kills apiece followed by Meredith Crawford with seven. Kayla Jordan had team-highs with 29 assists and 16 digs for the Comets. UTD had 3.5 total blocks, which all came by way of assists.
Also with the win tonight, CLU has posted the most victories in school history, surpassing the 31-7 record set by the 1987 Regals squad.
Sunday, Nov. 17 at 2:00 p.m. (PST) Cal Lutheran (32-1) will face the winner of the second Semifinal match today between Southwestern (27-11) and host Trinity (35-6) to earn a berth in the Sweet Sixteen next weekend in Holland, Mich.
Box Score: CLU 3, UTD 0
Tournament Central: 2013 NCAA Division III Volleyball Tournament
Bracket: 2013 NCAA Division III Volleyball Tournament Bracket
Live Stats: 2013 NCAA Division III Volleyball Live Stats
Live Video: 2013 NCAA Division III Volleyball Video
CLU Twitter: https://twitter.com/clusports
Follow Kylie: @k_mclogan and Pua: @puamookini
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