Ready for the rematch: After battling in the 2023 ASC championship, UMHB and No. 13 ETBU set for Friday night's duel in Marshall
The ASC is smaller than it has ever been. Yet the conference’s depth on the volleyball court only seems to be strengthening. Four of the five teams that are countable for the league standings have won at least two-thirds of their matches thus far, and LeTourneau—the only exception with a 7-8 overall record—has the nation’s No. 2 player in digs per set in standout libero/defensive specialist Morgan Nix.
At the top of that group are the squads of ETBU and UMHB, the same two who met in last year’s ASC Tournament championship. And the same two who are set to battle on ETBU’s home court on Friday night.
“It’s huge,” ETBU head coach Mallory Matthews said this week of facing UMHB. “Playing UMHB is always a really fun game. We’re pumped for the match, because we know it’s going to be high-level competition.”
A conference championship rematch raises the stakes nearly every time. But that is even more true in this case, in which UMHB and ETBU have once again seemed to separate themselves from the rest of the pack. ETBU is ranked 13th in the AVCA Top 25 Poll, the highest ranking in program history. UMHB received the second-most points amongst unranked teams in Tuesday’s edition of the national poll. And each has just one loss, both of which came to current Top 25 programs.
“East Texas Baptist, I believe, is probably the best team on our schedule,” UMHB head coach Mark Pryor said of the matchup. “They have pretty much everyone back from last year. They’ve got two really elite players that cause a lot of problems [for opponents]. They’re playing at a really high level.”
The Tigers’ success, evidenced by a 12-1 record, has come while facing a difficult non-conference slate, highlighted by five-set matches against eighth-ranked Trinity and ninth-ranked Claremont-Mudd-Scripps. Tested time and time again, ETBU has met the moment. Even in the five-set loss to Trinity, the Tigers clawed back in contention after falling behind 2-0, winning consecutive sets, forcing a decisive fifth set. Two weekends ago, on the West Coast, the same thing happened against CMS, as the Athenas took the first two sets, only to have ETBU storm back and win the next three.
“I think the experience on our team came into play with both of those matches, but especially CMS,” Matthews noted. “Our returners had this change in mindset going into the third set, just instilling into everyone that, ‘We can do this. We are this type of team too.’ When we beat North Park last year, I knew it was a great turning point because we proved to ourselves that we are a top team in the country.”
With that comes higher expectations. Expectations that ETBU has been forced to navigate as the Tigers rise in the national rankings and gain more recognition outside of Region 10 after a second-round NCAA Tournament run last fall. It was ETBU’s first appearance in the NCAA Regionals since 2003, and the program has continued that upward trajectory into 2024. For Matthews, the season has been about finding the balance between embracing the attention and not getting too caught up in all of it, especially with the challenges that the conference schedule presents.
“For the last couple years, we had been that underdog team [in the ASC],” Matthews said. “We had to figure out how we were going to be able to handle being the team that was supposed to win or playing high-level competition and also knowing that we’re a highly-competitive team. Trying to figure out mentally how to prepare for that and making sure to stay humble in those moments too. That’s been a big part of our team so far, trying to treat every game the same way, so we can play as consistently as possible.”
UMHB knows the feeling. While an NCAA Tournament berth has eluded The Cru in recent years, they too have handled being the team at the top of the league. In Pryor’s five complete seasons at UMHB, the Crusaders have won 75% of their matches on four occasions. The only instance in which they didn’t? 2022, when they won 68%. Last season was a banner year in many ways for the program, featuring a 27-2 overall record—the best overall winning percentage in a season in program history—along with an ASC regular season title and the right to host the ASC Tournament in Belton.
17 matches into 2024, the Crusaders are on that track once again. The 16-1 record includes multiple wins in three different states over a variety of competition,and the lone loss came to now-No. 19 Southwestern at the tail-end of a six-match week that included five matches in a 50-hour span. Through it all, UMHB has taken steps forward, and continues to maintain a mentality focused on development with Friday’s match on tap.
“The biggest thing for us is to be exposed to that level of play,” Pryor added, when talking about facing ETBU. “This weekend, we can get exposed to it, maybe make some adjustments and pick up the speed of play while we’re playing them. If we do, outstanding. If we don’t, well, that’s the only way we’re going to get better. They come back to our place in a few weeks, maybe we’re a little more prepped for it, and go from there…kind of like last year.”
Last year, UMHB dropped a five-set match against the Tigers in Marshall, returned home, and swept ETBU in Belton a month later. Of course, ETBU made sure to issue its counter in the ASC Tournament, sweeping UMHB in straight sets as the Tigers booked a trip to the NCAA Regionals. It seems the prevailing point of thought from both head coaches is not one of rivalry, but rather, respect. Both teams are pushing each other higher. And when they go toe-to-toe, the winner isn’t easy to predict. But the quality of play never seems to diminish, either way.
And neither do the crowds. Last year’s regular season match between the two in Belton saw 406 fans on hand. ETBU’s Ornelas Gym was nearly full when the two played in Marshall last fall as well. An attendance of 521 was recorded when they met in the ASC Tournament final. Friday night should be no different.
“We love playing in our home gym, and our girls really feed off of that too,” Matthews told The Big and The Best of D3 Texas. “I’m really excited. [UMHB] always brings a high level of competition, and we have gone back-and-forth [with them] the last couple of years. Obviously, everyone wants to host the conference tournament, and that’s a huge goal for our team this year. Being our first conference home game, there’s excitement, adrenaline, and all of that. But then it being UMHB, someone that we’ve been rivals with, it puts that much more on the game. So we’re excited to play it and see good volleyball this weekend.”
Numbers of the Week
2 consecutive seasons in which Hardin-Simmons women’s soccer has scored eight goals in a single match, as the Cowgirls accomplished that feat in Thursday’s 8-0 shutout at LeTourneau. HSU had 38 shots in the match, as Gabby Aviles and Kirsten Bush each found the back of the net twice. It marked HSU’s fourth shutout since Sept. 8 and is the program’s highest-scoring performance against an ASC opponent since a 10-0 win over Louisiana College on Sept. 26, 2019.
52 yards was the length of McMurry kicker Jax Rodriguez’s first-quarter field goal in Saturday’s duel between McMurry and Texas Lutheran, the SCAC’s top two teams. Rodriguez’s field goal was the third-longest in SCAC history and the longest for a SCAC kicker since 2010, when Jordan Gay connected on a 52-yarder for former conference member Centre.
2,149 days since Southwestern Volleyball had beaten Trinity before the Pirates pulled off a 3-1 win against the 15th-ranked Tigers last Saturday. The battle of Top 25 opponents in Georgetown saw Southwestern secure its first win over Trinity since a Nov. 3, 2018 win, and the first for the Pirates at home since Nov. 7, 2015.
5 interceptions for the Mary Hardin-Baylor defense in last Saturday’s stunning defeat of third-ranked UW-Whitewater, the most in a single game for The Cru since the 2019 season. Three of those came on consecutive possessions in the first quarter, two of which were returned for touchdowns as UMHB jumped out to a 14-0 lead and never looked back. UWW hadn’t been intercepted multiple times in a game since Oct. 29, 2022.
Game of the Week: Texas Lutheran at No. 19 Southwestern, Men’s Soccer
Friday | 7:30 PM | Georgetown, Texas
Similar to what ETBU vs UMHB means for ASC Volleyball, this match has notable significance for SCAC men’s soccer. What a way to lead off the first conference weekend of 2024. Southwestern enters with a 5-0-1 record while TLU is 4-0-1, both having put up several quality send up being a critical result in the conference slate. Remember, while 11 league matches is a sizable number, only four programs make the conference tournament come November. High-leverage duels such as this one certainly can and do impact who makes that four-team field, as we saw last year. howings thus far. TLU is coming off a two-week break from game action, and will be well-rested heading into the showdown in Georgetown. The Pirates are six days removed from a 3-2 win over Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, a key win considering Carthage took down 21st-ranked UChicago on Wednesday of this past week. Two of the three unbeaten teams remaining in the SCAC—Trinity is the other—both have made their mark in the defensive half of the field this season; TLU is third in the SCAC with 0.60 goals allowed per match, Southwestern is fourth, at 0.67. Don’t be surprised if defense controls the majority of this match in what should
Howard Payne at Wittenberg | Football | Saturday | 12:00 PM: In a stretch of three straight road games, HPU heads out of state looking for its second-straight win after a 41-14 victory against Lyon College last Saturday. Transfer quarterback Zy Gravitt has been handed the reins of the heavy passing offense and comes off a performance in which he threw for 316 yards.
Hardin-Simmons at Howard Payne | Volleyball | Friday | 6:00 PM: Howard Payne snapped a 12-match losing streak against HSU last season, but the Yellow Jackets have never beaten HSU in consecutive meetings. Could that change with this match? Both enter Friday’s duel seeking their first conference win of the season.
Hardin-Simmons at ETBU | Men’s Soccer | Saturday | 3:30 PM: Both squads opened ASC play on Thursday night with wins, and therefore are tied atop the standings for the time being. They are also the two highest-scoring teams in the league, which will play into the outcome in Marshall.
Texas Lutheran at Concordia | Volleyball | Friday | 6:00 PM: Concordia makes its SCAC debut against a strong TLU squad looking for its second win of conference play. It is also the first time since 2017 that the two programs have met in Austin, with the previous five matchups coming at neutral sites.
Know of a friend, family member, or fan who is interested in Texas’ D3 sports scene? Please feel free to share this newsletter and help us reach more supporters of the Lone Star State’s D-III programs!
As a reminder, this newsletter is FREE to subscribe to, and will come to your inbox just once a week. By sharing our work, it allows us to continue to bring you in-depth feature stories and promote the deserving student-athletes, coaches, and programs across Texas. Have a great weekend!