CEDAR PARK, Texas - JT is tearing it up.
Superstar opposite Jordan Thompson led LOVB Houston again, this time with 20 kills, as her team swept LOVB Omaha 26-24, 25-23, 25-16 in match one of two Thursday night in the H-E-B Center. JT now has 78 kills in her last four matches, including 59 in LOVB Houston's three victories last weekend en route to winning the LOVB Classic.
In the nightcap, LOVB Austin, like Houston, was playing its fifth match in seven days but was no worse for the wear. Austin downed Salt Lake 25-21, 25-22, 21-25, 25-21 as five players scored at least 11 points.
Week 7 concludes Friday when LOVB Madison goes to LOVB Atlanta for a 7:30 p.m. Eastern first serve that can be seen on LOVB Live, DAZN and YouTube.
JT, Houston sweep Omaha
After going 3-0 in the LOVB Classic, coach Massimo Barbolini rested most of his starters Wednesday night in a four-set loss to Austin. That included a night off for Thompson.
Against Omaha, Jordan had just three errors in 35 attacks and hit .486. She added two aces, a block and four digs.
"This has been a long week," she said. "We've had five games in seven days so we've had to rely on all 15 girls and I think it's really cool that we can interchange players and encourage each other and find ways to continue to battle."
Jess Mruzik, who played the fourth set Wednesday, had 12 kills and hit .346 to go with a block, eight digs and five assists. Madi Rishel had seven kills and nine digs. Key Alves got the start again at libero and had 12 digs and two assists. Houston, which hit .303, had five aces and just three serving errors.
In both of the first two sets, Houston had to rally to close out. Houston was up 24-19 but didn't win the set until Jordan’s kill on the seventh set point. In the second, a 23-19 lead evaporated but Jordan – who else? – broke a 23-23 tie with a kill then an ace. The third set was never in doubt.
"Now is the time for three days off for the girls to rest," said Massimo, who is glad his team is off for a week and then gets to play at home next Thursday when it faces Salt Lake.
While Houston improved to 5-3 in the regular season, Omaha dropped to 4-3. Omaha hit .224 and had two aces and seven errors.
Kimberly Drewniok had five of her 13 kills in the third set and had four digs. Jaali Winters, who hit .407, also had 13 kills and three digs. Jordan Larson had eight kills, an ace, nine digs and three assists. Setter Laura Dijkema had 23 assists and libero Justine Wong-Orantes had seven digs and four assists.
"First two games we were feeling pretty good. We were a play or two away from opportunities here," Omaha coach Suzie Fritz said. "We're fighting like crazy to get a little bit better and that one or two percent will get us the outcomes we want."
Omaha is off until February 28 when it plays at Madison.
Balanced Austin tops Salt Lake
Khat Bell had 11 kills against Salt Lake to lead Austin for the first time this season. The veteran who only played the last three sets had six digs and an assist as second-day coach Chris McGown shuffled his lineup.
That included Carli Lloyd getting the start at setter and she had 38 assists, a kill, two blocks and nine digs. Austin, which squared its regular-season record at 4-4, hit .219 and had three aces but 17 errors.
Madisen Skinner, coming off a 23-kill performance the day before, played two sets and had 10 kills, hit .350, and had two blocks and five digs. Logan Eggleston had 10 kills, Asjia O'Neal eight in 17 errorless swings and two blocks, and Molly McCage had seven kills, a dig and a match-high six blocks.
"Chris came in with a lot of positive energy but he also did a good job of leading us and giving us free rein to figure things out," Asjia said. "He also had a solid game plan so I think we have a really good vibe and momentum going into the second half of the season."
"We had great energy," said libero Kotoe Inoue was named player of the match after having 20 digs and four assists.
"This match comes at the end of a really long series of matches and travel. We just talked about bringing as much energy as we could, to find it somewhere, and I thought the girls did great," Chris said. "I thought the team stepped up. It was a true team effort. We had a lot of individuals play great and come off the bench and do really good things for us.
"I'm so impressed with this group and what they've been able to do."
Salt Lake, which dropped to 3-6 as it struggled to a .109 hitting percentage. SL had five aces – three by Tori Dixon – and five errors.
Heidy Casanova led with 17 kills and hit .310 and had a block and nine digs. Serena Gray had season highs with 11 kills, four blocks and four digs plus one ace. Maddie Haynes had 10 kills, a block and six digs. Dixon had four kills in 10 errorless swings and two blocks.
Setter Jordyn Poulter had 34 assists, an ace and 10 digs and libero Manami Kojima had 19 digs and three assists.
"My girls battled. It wasn't always clean but volleyball is like that. So props to them for fighting back and siding out and siding out and siding out," Salt Lake coach Tama Miyashiro said. "I'm pretty sure we'll get a little bit of rest and start training again."
Austin is off until Saturday, March 1 when it plays Atlanta in Madison. Salt Lake plays at Houston next Thursday, February 27.
