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SAN ANTONIO -- UTSA middle hitters Hannah Froeschl and Kara Teal posted career days to lead UTSA to a four-set win (25-23, 25-23, 22-25, 25-22) over FAU, on Sunday afternoon at the Convocation Center.
UTSA (14-5, 6-1 Conference USA) battled FAU (15-6, 5-2 C-USA) in a battle of two of the top four teams in the league standings. UTSA raced out to early leads in the first and second sets to take a mid-match advantage. FAU starred strong in the third to build a lead and UTSA was able to rally back to take a 22-21 lead but the Owls forced a fourth set with three of the final four points in the set.
In the fourth set, junior UTSA outside hitter Brianna McCulloch set the tone as the Roadrunners took an early lead and finished off the win for the four-set result.
Froeschl, a sophomore out of League City, Texas set a new career high with 18 kills on just 31 swings, hitting .516. Teal, a junior out of Round Rock, Texas, finished with 14 kills and a .480 hitting percentage. Freshman Hannah Lopez totaled 15 kills and seven digs.
McCulloch added eight kills and three digs. Freshman Kirby Smith had seven kills and nine digs with Monste Castro adding two kill. Senior setter Amanda Gonzales had 33 assists, with freshman setter Mia Perales sporting 22 assists. Senior Shelby Williams had 20 digs.
UTSA will return to action with an East Coast swing next weekend, traveling to face Charlotte on Friday and Marshall on Sunday.
Hear from coach @lauragroff14 on the four-set win over FAU! #BirdsUp🤙 pic.twitter.com/INpC6NqqH3
— UTSA Volleyball (@UTSAvolleyball) October 14, 2018
UTSA raced out of the gate with five of the first six points, getting a pair of terminations from Teal and an ace from Lopez. Teal's solo block extended the lead to 6-1, with UTSA using a smash from Froeschl on her first swing to take a 9-3 lead into an FAU timeout. UTSA earned two of the first three points out of the break, getting a block from Froeschl and Smith and a kill from Froeschl, but FAU took five of the next seven points to cut the lead to 11-8. Froeschl snapped the run with her third kill and Teal stretched the lead to 14-10. Teal and Froeschl charted back-to-back kills for a 16-13 lead and Smith's right-handed smash from the left side of the net put UTSA up 17-14. After Smith's first ace of the match, FAU took a timeout with the Runners up 19-15. Smith's serve led to a McCulloch kill and a 20-15 lead but FAU took the next two points before the first Lopez kill of the set. FAU took three of the next five points to cut the lead to 23-21 and force a UTSA timeout. Two big swings from Teal allowed UTSA to finish off the win, 25-23. UTSA finished the set, hitting .216 with two aces and a pair of blocks. FAU hit .267 in the set.
Three of the first five points went to the Runners, with Teal and Montse Castro earning terminations. A pair of strong decisions from Froeschl led to her fifth kill – in seven swings – and a 4-2 lead. Perales then lofted a quality serve to stretch UTSA's lead to 5-2. FAU responded to take five of the next six points to earn its first lead of the match, 7-6. Froeschl evened it up with a kill at the middle of the net and UTSA stretched its lead to 15-10 after two kills from Lopez and one from Smith. After FAU cut into the lead with three straight, Froeschl notched two kills in a three-point span for an 18-14 lead, forcing an FAU timeout. The first point out of the break went to the Owls before Froeschl's ninth kill took the lead to 19-15. UTSA took a 21-17 lead after a Teal kill but FAU raced back to cut the lead to 22-21 and force a UTSA timeout. UTSA took three of the next five points to finish off the set win, getting a big swing from Smith and a finishing termination from McCulloch.
FAU flipped the script on UTSA to open the third, taking an early lead with six of the first eight points. Smith then started to get on a roll, collecting three straight UTSA points as the Runners cut the lead to 7-4. A Lopez smash – her eighth – cut the lead to 10-7. Three of the next four points went to the Owls before Natalya Chatham cut the lead to 13-9. Two straight points, including the 11th kill of the match from Froeschl, cut the FAU lead to 13-11 but a 3-0 run extended it to 16-11. UTSA used a pair of kills from Froeschl to cut the lead to 17-13 and McCulloch, Teal and Lopez got it to within three with kills. After a 3-0 run cut the lead to 20-19, FAU used its last timeout. UTSA rallied to even it at 21 before Teal gave the Runners their first lead in the third, 22-21. After two straight for FAU, UTSA used its last timeout and FAU earned its final three points for the 25-22 win.
McCulloch factored into four of UTSA's first six points in the fourth as the Runners took a 6-3 lead. Smith's kill stretched the lead to 7-4 and sparked a run that saw the Runners lead 9-4 at an FAU timeout, with all four Owls points coming on UTSA errors. Froeschl set a new career high with her 15th kill and UTSA took a 10-5 lead. Lopez took the lead to 12-7 with her 10th kill and UTSA took a 14-9 lead into a timeout from FAU. Froeschl's 16th termination got the lead to 15-10 and back-to-back kills from Lopez took the lead to 17-11. FAU took six of the next eight points to force a UTSA timeout with a 19-17 lead. Out of the break, freshman Lydia Niebla sported a nifty dig to set up a block from McCulloch and Teal. Froeschl's 17th kill snapped a 2-0 FAU run for a 22-19 lead and Lopez put it to 23-19 with a swift kill. Three straight forced a UTSA timeout with a 24-22 lead before UTSA finished off the win.
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