Volleyball sweeps competition

The Xavier volleyball team swept their competition on the
road this weekend, defeating Butler in Indianapolis (25-18, 25-20, 25-22) and winning at Saint Louis (25-20, 25-23, 25-17). The Musketeers demonstrated mental fortitude in a powerful game this weekend, closing out every close set they encountered in unfriendly environments. The Muskies began with a 13-3 run to open up their match at Butler, but the Bulldogs battled back, cutting the deficit to three points. Xavier
shut down the Butler run, however, closing out the set with backto- back kills by redshirt junior Alex Smith. The Musketeers used their 7-3 run to start the second set to secure a 25-20 win, but the third set proved to be more difficult. Despite an early Muskie lead, Butler battled all game and eventually tied the set at 20-20 until Xavier pulled away and won. The attacking game was key for the Musketeers against Butler, as Alex Smith and junior Sarah Brown connected for 16 kills each
Smith was particularly impressive in the match, recording no hitting errors despite 25 attempts with a .640 hitting percentage. Brown had a .293 percentage for the match while also recording eight digs. Xavier's attack continued to surge at Saint Louis the next day as the Musketeers opened their first set against the Billikens with a .351 hitting percentage. After tw o 7-4 runs, the Muskies went on to close out the first set 25-20 against the home team. The next set was harder to control, as both teams took turns earning points in a back and forth game. The Musketeers were finally able to win the set 25-
23 after a crucial kill from Alex Smith and a timely block from her sister Aubree. Xavier easily controlled the 3rd game after starting with a 14-5 lead and going on to take the set and match. The Musketeers have now won four straight Atlantic 10 matches, and in this streak the team has certainly been impressive. Alex Smith now has two consecutive games without recording an error and recorded a .619 hitting percentage
on the road trip. Against SLU, sophomore Aubree Smith recorded 37 assists and has 2,033 assists in her career, already ranked 9th in Xavier history. Senior Stephanie Vorherr now has 1,993 digs in her career, only 87 digs away from tying
the A-10 all-time record for digs. Xavier plays this Friday and
Saturday at 7 p.m. in Cintas Center against Rhode Island and Fordham.