GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Dallas Christian College volleyball team kept surging as the first day of Pool Play in the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association (NCCAA) Division II Volleyball Tournament began on Wednesday. The No. 3 Seed Crusaders went 2-0 on the day and are in a good position to advance to the semifinals on Friday. DCC (12-6) remains unbeaten this month and has rattled off a season-high five straight wins.
After some adjustments to the schedule, Dallas Christian took on No. 7 Seed Toccoa Falls College in the early morning matchup. DCC was not affected by the early time and opponent change as it prevailed 25-18, 25-19, and 25-22 for the sweep.
Lauren Baker was the main factor offensively with 12 kills and a block. Elizabeth Morrow contributed seven kills and Christen Downey added five. Hannah Gallegos led with 15 assists.
In the second match of the day, the Crusaders overwhelmed the No. 6 Seed Alice Lloyd College with another set sweep in the form of 25-15, 25-12, 25-12 scores. Each set began with Dallas Christian jumping out to a huge lead and then cruising the rest of the way.
Baker and Downey guarded the front row with each tallying 10 kills to lead all players. Morrow was the team leader in digs with 12 and was on serve through most of the team's long rallies. She and Kelly Graves combined for nine-of-10 service aces with five and four, respectively. This included three straight to finish off the second set that had followed her kill to put her on serve and gave her the final four points.
"I took advantage of the opportunity to serve more aggressively," Morrow reflected on her success serving.
In the first set, the Crusaders opened with six points. After two points went to the Eagles, Baker got the Crusaders back on the board with a kill that went across the court and just landed inside the right corner. Summer Doty had a solo block make it 13-5 and then the senior put in the team's other ace in the box score to give DCC a 16-8 advantage. With Graves on serve, the Crusaders went up to a commanding 22-9 edge on the strength of six points in a row. After Alice Lloyd went on a run of its own, Downey and Doty had kills to claim the opening frame.
The Eagles grabbed their only lead of any point in the match to start the middle set off. It was not a long-lived lead, as Dallas Christian erupted for nine straight points. Several long rallies went DCC's way with a combination of good placement attacks and aces that were a result of poor serve receptions by Alice Lloyd. The opposition crept back to make it 10-6 though, but Keeley Price had a kill that spun the momentum back. Downey was involved on back-to-back points with a block and kill, and Baker pulverized an overpass to cap an 8-0 run that stretched the DCC lead to 17-7. Up 22-12, Morrow got on the serve and went off for the three-of-a-kind aces.
In the last set, Morrow picked up a point on a kill to get back on the serve again. Though after a Baker kill completed another back-and-forth volley, the junior Student-Athlete of the Week had an error prevent another dominant streak. After an exchange of points, Anca Pintiliuc had a huge dive on a receiving pass that led to an eventual DCC point. That ignited a 9-0 run to make the lead be double-digits (12-2) and it continued to be all Crusaders the remainder of play.
"We remained level-headed and consistent with finding the holes on the court," Baker discussed regarding a balanced attack from so many contributors.
All 12 active players for the Crusaders made an appearance in the victory against Alice Lloyd.
"I am proud that we came out with two sweeps today," Doty stated. " We're going to step up more against BJU tomorrow."
Dallas Christian is back on the floor tomorrow at 1 p.m. (EST) 12 p.m. (CST) against the host school and No. 2 Seed Bob Jones University.
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