The volleyball team opened the season with a strong showing on Sept. 2, taking down Wiley College 3-0.
Despite some unforced errors in the first set, the Comets still won 25-15. A versatile attack led by senior outside hitter Meredith Crawford and junior middle blocker Holyn Handley, who finished with 11 and 7 kills respectively, helped to keep UTD above water.
While head coach Marci Sanders was impressed with how the team played overall, she said the team still needs to improve on honing its game.
“You saw in the first set, I think we made eight unforced errors,” she said. “We’ve got to clean that up a little bit.”
The next set saw the Comets handle the Wildcats 25-6 in a period where UTD dominated both on the offensive and defensive side of the ball. The team picked up 13 kills during the period compared to Wiley’s 3.
In the final set, Wiley was able to mount a small surge on offense, scoring the first points of the set. Still, it wasn’t enough for the road team as UTD was able to hold off its attack to take the final set 25-19.
To top off the night, senior setter Kayla Jordan tied the program’s all-time record for assists. Jordan averaged 11 assists per set to finish the match with 34 assists. She now has 3,872 assists in her career.
Jordan said she was looking forward to picking up the record before the match.
“When the game started, I was like, ‘You know, it doesn’t really matter if it happens or not, but it would be cool if it did. But I just need to focus on how I play,'” she said.
After the game, Sanders said she was happy with how the team performed together for the first time.
“I’m pretty sure we got everybody in (to play),” she said. “One of the things that was really impressive is that it doesn’t matter who’s out on the floor…they have to trust each other out there. So that was one of the things I thought they did out there in that third (period) even though it was a little bit tighter from making a lot of subs.”
The Comets will play again this weekend in a tournament in Georgetown.
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