Mary Speights,Kayla Ronda Named ASC Volleyball Players of the Week
9/2/2014 1:36:19 PM
AMERICAN SOUTHWEST CONFERENCE VOLLEYBALL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Games of August 29 – September 1, 2014
OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Kayla Ronda, OH, Jr., LeTourneau
Junior outside hitter Kayla Ronda (Chandler, Ariz./Corona Del Sol HS) led the YellowJackets with 11 service aces, 46 kills and a .328 hitting percentage as LeTourneau began the season with a 2-2 mark at the TLU Bulldog Classic. She also added with 26 digs and three block assists.
DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK – Mary Speights, L, So., Texas Dallas
Sophomore libero Mary Speights (Mexia, Texas/Mexia HS) sparked the Comets with 4.50 digs per set over the weekend as UTD went 3-1 in their home tournament. Speights topped double-digit digs in 3-of-4 matches, including a weekend-high 26 digs in the Comets come-from-behind 3-2 win over Univ. of Dallas Saturday night. Speights also had 21 digs in Saturday's 3-1 win over perennial regional power Southwestern.
OTHER TOP PERFORMANCES
OFFENSIVE
Concordia Texas junior outside hitter Katie Baker (Corpus Christi, Texas/Calallen HS) led CTX with 3.43 kills per set, while hitting .264. Baker also ranked second on the team with 2.93 digs per frame. She logged two double-doubles in the four matches, including an 18-kill, 10-dig performance against Willamette. Baker also hammered down 14 winners and collected 10 digs in the season-opening win versus Schreiner … East Texas Baptist sophomore outside hitter Mallory Sanders (Mansfield, Texas/Mansfield HS) collected three double-doubles in four matches. Sanders recorded18 kills vs. Southwestern which was one short of her career high and posted a career high 69 attacks. Sanders led the team with eight serving aces, had 40 kills, and posted double-doubles performances against Trinity (12K, 12D), Univ. of Dallas (12K, 11D) and Southwestern (18K, 17D) … Hardin-Simmons junior middle blocker Corrie Reeder (Shady Shores, Texas/Denton Calvary HS) had 41 kills and hit .233 as the Cowgirls opened the season with a 1-3 record at the Texas Dallas Tournament. Reeder also added 10 blocks over the course of 16 sets … Mary Hardin-Baylor senior middle hitter Bianca Patterson (Killeen, Texas/Harker Heights HS) opened the season with an impressive weekend at the Texas Dallas Labor Day Tournament. Against Southwestern, Patterson totaled 11 kills on 26 total attacks for a .346 hitting percentage. She added one solo block and three block assists for 13.5 total points. Patterson rebounded from that performance against Univ. of Dallas, hitting an impressive .900, with nine kills on 10 total attacks. On Saturday against No. 13 Trinity (Texas), Patterson helped the Cru to an impressive four-set win over the Tigers, totaling 12 kills for a .346 hitting percentage. She added one assist, one block solo and one block assist. Patterson ended the weekend with a team-high 32 kills for a 2.7 kills per set average … Sul Ross State junior middle blocker Carly Montero (Austin, Texas/Anderson HS) hit .522 with 15 kills and had just three errors on 23 attempts in the season-opening victory against Huston-Tillotson. Montero added three blocks and hit .778 with seven kills against Rust. She later hit .308 with four kills and six blocks against Centenary College ... Texas Dallas senior outside hitter Taylour Toso (Helotes, Texas/San Antonio O'Connor HS) averaged 3.1 kills, 2.7 digs and 0.6 blocks per set as she led the Comets to a 3-1 weekend to open the season. Toso had a weekend-high 17 kills and three blocks along with a .158 hitting percentage in Saturday's 3-2 come-from-behind win over Univ. of Dallas … Texas-Tyler freshman outside hitter Rebekah Maner (Fort Polk, La./Somerset HS) tied for the team-lead in kills with 25, averaging 2.08 per set.
DEFENSIVE
Concordia Texas senior defensive specialist Cassie Dominguez (Houston, Texas/Cy-Fair HS) paced Concordia's defensive effort averaging 4.29 digs per set over the first four matches of the season. Dominguez collected a total of 60 digs, including a 20-dig performance against Willamette. Overall, Dominguez registered double-digit stops in each of the four contests … East Texas Baptist junior defensive specialist Hannah Jones (Magnolia, Texas/Tomball HS) set a career high with 46 digs against Southwestern in five-set loss topping her previous best of 30 digs last year. Jones recorded 51 digs and had five serving aces … Hardin-Simmons sophomore setter Lauren Wish (Mansfield, Texas/Mansfield HS) had a team-best 67 digs over four matches … Mary Hardin-Baylor junior libero Kendra Feldmann (Arvada, Colo./Ralston Valley HS) led the Cru defensively to three wins over the weekend, including an impressive four-set win over No. 13 Trinity. Feldmann opened the year with a 28-dig performance against Southwestern and followed that with 14 digs against Univ. of Dallas. On Saturday, Feldmann recorded 18 digs against Trinity and ended the weekend with 60 digs for a five dig per-set average … Sul Ross State sophomore outside hitter Alilee Church (Albuquerque, N.M./Albuquerque HS) led the Lobos with 58 digs, an average of 3.41 per set, as they went 3-1 on the opening weekend of the season. Church had 21 digs against Austin College, 18 against Centenary and added 15 service aces over four matches … Texas-Tyler sophomore designated setter Shabronda Prox (Kaufman, Texas/Kaufman HS) played in all four matches, totaling a team-high 61 digs. She was voted by the coaches to the Pacific Coast Tournament All-Tournament team.
AROUND THE ASC Notes submitted by ASC Sports Information Staffs
Concordia Texas (1-3) – Concordia Texas posted a 1-3 record at the Bulldog Classic in Seguin, Texas. The Tornados started the year with a sweep of Schreiner, before falling to Texas Lutheran in three sets, Willamette in five frames and Wisconsin-Oshkosh in three sets. Junior outside hitter Katie Baker paced CTX with 3.43 kills per set. Freshman outside hitter Carly Custer registered 2.43 winners per frame, junior setter Zoe Allen handed out 7.21 assists per panel and senior defensive specialist Cassie Dominguez collected a team-high 60 digs (4.29/set). Concordia will travel to Schreiner on Tuesday night before returning home to host Our Lady of the Lake and Wiley on Saturday.
East Texas Baptist (1-3) – Sophomore outside Mallory Sanders recorded three double-doubles in her first appearance since being named the 2013 ASC Freshman of the Year. Senior setter Kayla Taylor added a double-double vs. Southwestern with 36 assists and 10 digs. Junior middle blocker Adaeze Elonu recorded 20 blocks in four matches with nine vs. Hendrix. East Texas Baptist served up 23 aces over the weekend as Sanders led with eight serving-winners. ETBU's win came in a 3-0 sweep of the Univ. of Dallas Saturday.
Hardin-Simmons (1-3) – Hardin-Simmons opened the season with a 1-3 mark at the UTD Tournament. The Cowgirls are off this week before starting league play at home next weekend. Senior setter Molli Owen is 35 assists away from the school record.
Howard Payne – Howard Payne will begin play Friday (Sept. 5) with a doubleheader against Texas Lutheran at Noon and will play Hendrix College at 2:00 p.m. in the Austin College Classic in Sherman, Texas.
LeTourneau (2-2) – The LeTourneau University volleyball team posted a 2-2 record at the TLU Bulldog Classic to begin the 2014 season. Both of the YellowJackets wins came in five-set marathons.
Mary-Hardin-Baylor (3-0) – UMHB opened the season with a 3-0 record at the Texas Dallas Labor Day Tournament. The Cru grabbed a 3-2 win over Southwestern on Friday to open the season, and followed with a three-set sweep of the Univ. of Dallas. UMHB returned to action Saturday in a 3-1 win over No. 13 Trinity (Texas) University. The Cru returns to action this weekend at the Cal Lu Fornia Invitational hosted by California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks, Calif.
Sul Ross State (3-1) – Sul Ross State opened the season winning three of four matches under new the guidance of head coach Dewayne Roberts, who made his collegiate debut as a head coach. The Lobos are off to their best start since they began the 2004 season with a 9-2 record, and they have now won more matches in a season since they won six matches in 2007. SRSU out hit their opponents in the four matches, .180 to .079, averaged 10.18 assists per set to 7.53, and had 50 aces to 30 for their opponents. Six Lobos hit .261 or better to lead the offensive effort last weekend.
Texas Dallas (3-1) – The Comets the season with a 3-1 mark at the UTD Labor Day Tournament. Texas Dallas picked up wins over Hendrix (3-1), Southwestern (3-1) and Univ. of Dallas (3-2) and fell to No. 13-ranked Trinity (Texas) (3-0). Senior outside hitter Taylour Toso is inching closer to the UTD career kills record. After the opening weekend of the season, Toso (1,042) is now just 222 kills shy of the Comet record of 1,264 kills, set by Dana Hilzendager (2009-12). Junior setter Kayla Jordan is also closing in on a career mark. Now with 2,771 career assists, Jordan is just 1,101 assists shy of the career record set by Niki Calverly (3,872 assists, 2007-10). The Comets return to action this weekend at the Austin College Invitational.
Texas-Tyler (1-3) – The Patriots headed west to take on four top California squads, including No. 6 Cal Lutheran and No. 19 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps.