Another seven days of the fall sports schedule has wrapped up, as we reach the midpoint of the week. UMHB Volleyball took a 3-1 win over Howard Payne in its ASC opener on Tuesday night, and Thursday brings the home opener for Crusader men’s soccer, along with Cru volleyball’s showdown against Hardin-Simmons. But today, we wanted to take a moment to highlight some of the top performances from this past week within UMHB sports, including our Athletes of the Week presented by The Floor Store & More.
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Female Athlete of the Week: Kendall Harrington
UMHB Volleyball had plenty of strong performances over the weekend and in Tuesday’s home opener against Howard Payne. Harrington stood out through all five matches, especially in Friday’s 3-1 victory over UW-Superior, who was 5-0 entering the contest. Harrington put up an impressive stat line against the Yellowjackets, with 10 kills, 24 assists, and 19 digs. It marked just the second triple-double by a Region 10 player in 2024, and is only the 17th triple-double nationally thus far.
The Midland native played in 16 of The Cru’s 18 sets over the course of five matches from Friday to Tuesday, tallying 36 kills, 78 assists, and 41 digs, along with a pair of service aces in each of UMHB’s wins on Saturday over Martin Luther and Hamline. Harrington also averaged 2.96 points/set over the weekend’s four matches in Superior, Wisconsin. Her season average of 3.00 points/set currently ranks 10th in the ASC, and she is also ninth in the conference in service aces/set, at 0.43.
Male Athlete of the Week: Ethan Dacaret
Dacaret provided the assist in each of UMHB’s two goals last week, as The Cru notably upset No. 1-ranked St. Olaf College on Thursday, 1-0, before falling to Claremont-Mudd-Scripps, 3-1, on Saturday. The senior forward from Austin had not recorded an assist since Sept. 28, 2023—which also turned out to be his only assist of last season—but placed a pass perfectly to Drew Cooley in the 72nd minute of the win over St. Olaf. Dacaret, running up the right flank, took the pass from Cooley in stride, hesitated at the top corner of the box to draw the defender off balance, then sent the ball in to Cooley, who finished the play with a go-ahead goal. Two days later, in the 37th minute against CMS, Dacaret set up Evan Ruiz’s first collegiate goal. He chased down a pass that was quickly heading for the endline, and kept the ball in play with a hard kick towards the center of the box. The ball bounced off a CMS defender and straight to Ruiz, who fired a shot into the right side of the net for UMHB’s lone goal of the match.
Dacaret was one of just two ASC players—UT-Dallas’ Benny Lube being the other—with two assists this past week. Dacaret and Lube are currently tied for the overall lead in assists in the conference. It is also the third time in his four years in Belton that he has recorded multiple assists in a season, though it is the first instance in which he has tallied an assist in consecutive matches.
Other notable Cru Athletics individual performances this week
- Caitlyn Ellenburg (Volleyball) put up three straight matches of 20 assists or more, including a season-high 25 assists against Howard Payne in Tuesday’s conference opener. Ellenburg ranks fourth in the ASC in assists/set (5.23).
- Natalie Hughes (Volleyball) put together one of the most efficient offensive performances we’ve seen so far this season, as the sophomore had 11 kills in just 15 attacks (.667 hitting percentage) in Friday’s sweep of St. Scholastica. Her season hitting percentage of .333 ranks fourth in the ASC currently.
- Natalie Mason (Women’s Soccer) scored her third goal of her senior year on Sunday in the 1-1 draw against Trine. White now has three goals this season, a new career-high for her and currently tied for the third-most in the ASC.
- Gavin Brzezinski (Football) led the team in solo tackles (9) on Saturday in his first varsity game, and also intercepted a Bethel pass in the first quarter, which set up a UMHB field goal.
- Christopher Gacayan (Football) recorded the second 60+ yard receiving game of his career, with five catches for 60 yards and a touchdown against Bethel. It was also the second-most receptions recorded in a single game during the sophomore tight end’s career at UMHB.
