SHERMAN, Texas – The Austin College volleyball team opened the 2017 campaign with a 3-1 victory over Lawrence University, before falling just short of a comeback bid in a 3-2 loss to McMurry to cap off day one of the 22nd Annual Austin College Classic.
In the first match of the day for the 'Roos, the team got a big debut out of freshman Mayson Kennon, who paced Austin College with 14 kills and just four attacking errors. The 'Roos would top Lawrence 25-23, 24-26, 25-14, 27-25 in the match. Dani DeWitt and Brooke Harris each tallied 12 kills, while Rebekah Bowden had 11 and Kristen Massey added 10.
Katie Ingle led the way with 44 assists and 14 digs, while Bowden added five total blocks. Madi McVay led Austin College with 23 digs, while Harris added 21. The 'Roos had a .278 team hitting percentage in the match, along with 14 total blocks as a team.
The 'Roos fell behind 2-0 to McMurry in their second match of the day, posting team hitting percentages of just .054 and .069 in the first two sets, respectively. However, after dropping those sets 25-14, 25-22, the 'Roos stormed back with a dominant 25-16 third set performance and rallied past McMurry for a 26-24 victory in set four to force a decisive fifth set. McMurry would build an 8-3 lead in the fifth set and Austin College was unable to recover, however, falling 15-11 to drop the match 3-2.
Kennon once again led Austin College with 14 kills, while DeWitt and Massey each added nine, as did Hannah Arbaugh, who also added nine digs. Ingle had 28 assists to lead the way in that department, while Sam Fawcett added 17 assists and 14 digs. Tatiani Ferrari tallied a team-best 33 digs in the loss, while Bowden had four total blocks, including three solo blocks.
Austin College wraps up the Austin College classic tomorrow with matches against Sul Ross at 2:00 p.m. and Howard Payne at 4:00 p.m.
Austin College athletic teams participate as a member of the NCAA Division III and the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference.