Marshall, Texas - The Hardin-Simmons and East Texas Baptist volleyball teams each won their semifinal matches on Friday in the ASC Volleyball Conference Tournament.  HSU won a five-set thriller over Mary-Hardin Baylor and ETBU won 3-0 over Howard Payne.  The Cowgirls from HSU and the Tigers from ETBU will meet for the conference championship on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. on the campus of ETBU.  

Semifinal Match #1 - #2 HSU defeated #3 UMHB, 3-2
The Cowgirls had to rally after dropping the first set 25-21 to the Crusaders. Hardin-Simmons got an incredible touch from Ari Villanueva diving into the table to lead to a Cowgirl point in the 25-20 set two win to tie the match 1-1.
 
UMHB got up 19-11 in the third set and the Cowgirls rattled off seven straight points before taking the set 25-23 over the Crusaders. The Cowgirls went to a marathon in set four and went down 32-30 to send the match into a final set to 15.
 
Hardin-Simmons again rallied after trailing early and got a pinpoint over by Gabby Jones that made it down for a kill to take a 14-11 lead.  Liz Keidl led the Cowgirls to the ASC championship with a kill to win the set and match 15-12 over Mary Hardin-Baylor.
 
Leigh Jespersen had 18 kills and 29 digs to lead all Cowgirls on the day. Avery Tumlinson had 12 kills and Keidl finished with ten kills.
 
Villanueva had 25 digs and Kat Martinez collected 24 digs to both keep the Cowgirl rally on.  Keatyn Rodgers finished with 25 assists and Allison O'Shaughnessy ended with 24 assists in the win for Hardin-Simmons.
 
Head coach Kendall Crisp reaches the ASC championship for the first time in her career and takes the Cowgirls back to the final game of the tournament for the first time since 2013.

Semifinal Match #2 - #1 ETBU defeated #4 HPU, 3-0
ETBU picked up their 30th win of the season after defeating HPU in their semifinal match.  The Tigers won by a score of 25-17, 25-13, and 25-12.  

The conference four-time player of the year Graycee Mosley led the way in the victory with 23 kills while hitting .476.  She also added nine digs, one block, and scored 23.5 points.  

Callie Humphrey led the way on the back row with 14 digs, while McKenzie Mansell added 12 digs.  Lexi Moody had 15 assists and three kills, while Sydney Temple had 10 assists.  

The Tigers will be looking to win their third straight conference championship on Saturday in Marshall.  

Follow all the action live via the Tournament Central.