Photo by Luke Zayas/True To The Cru/LukeZayasMedia
BELTON—Days before the 2024 season opener, UMHB Volleyball head coach Mark Pryor said he didn’t think the season would be “as much of a rebuilding year” as some were expecting. Four weeks and 17 matches later, that statement has certainly rung true.
The Crusaders are 16-1, coming off a 3-0 weekend in Conway, Arkansas that featured wins over Concordia, Hendrix, and Rhodes. They’ve managed to go undefeated in both neutral site matches (7-0) and road matches (4-0). Victories have come in three different states; Oregon, Wisconsin, and Arkansas. And despite the inexperience of the roster, an aspect that some felt might hold The Cru back early on, UMHB is playing with the poise of a veteran-laden squad.
“I’m hopeful that we can continue to not only have success, but continue our growth,” Pryor said Wednesday. “They’ve definitely gotten better each weekend.”
There is no better example of that fact than in The Cru’s hitting percentages from the season’s first weekend in Portland, Oregon, up to now. A three-set sweep over Pacific on August 30 saw UMHB record 23 hitting errors—a higher number than typical for the Crusaders in a three-set match. Compare that to last Friday’s three-set win over Concordia, where UMHB ended up with just 14 errors.
“We’re starting to adopt that identity that we’ve had for the last five years, as far as, ‘You might beat us, but we’re not going to beat ourselves.’ We’re understanding the value of, ‘If we can’t score, that’s fine. Let’s not make the situation worse and make a rash decision about how hard we’re going to hit, where we’re going to hit it, when that might not be the smart play.’
“I think they’re understanding the idea that it’s much more of a chess match than it is checkers. They have to think long-term.”
This past weekend, for the first time this season, UMHB hit above .200 in three consecutive matches, two of which went five sets. As Pryor noted, efficient hitting has long been a contributor to The Cru’s success, as evidenced by four streaks of three or more straight matches with a hitting percentage above .200 last season, a year in which UMHB went 27-2.
Maintaining that level of offensive execution will only get tougher—and more crucial—with the arrival of UMHB’s first ASC road matches in the coming weekend. Friday night’s duel gives The Cru its first test against 13th-ranked ETBU, a fellow one-loss team that has made a name for itself nationally as the Tigers have climbed in the AVCA’s Top 25.
Last season, UMHB and ETBU battled for the league’s top spot for much of the fall, with the Tigers taking a narrow 3-2 win in Marshall before UMHB answered with a sweep in Belton. ETBU ultimately had the final say, sweeping The Cru in the ASC Tournament final inside UMHB’s Mayborn Campus Center, which sent the Tigers to their first NCAA Tournament since 2003.
But that was last year. As for 2024? ETBU is currently ranked the highest it has ever been, and just two weeks ago, upset Claremont-Mudd-Scripps—who was ranked ninth in the country at the time—in five sets for the Tigers first Top 25 win of the season. Their average of 13.77 kills per set currently ranks fifth in Division III, a byproduct of a high-leverage offensive attack headlined by senior hitter Graycee Mosley, a surefire All-American who hails from just north of Belton in Troy.
UMHB has the firepower to counter ETBU’s high-octane offense. The Crusaders have the fifth-most kills of any team in the country. And better yet, The Cru is the nation’s fourth-best team in blocks per set.
“East Texas Baptist, I believe, is probably the best team on our schedule,” Pryor said. “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.
“So the biggest thing for us is to be exposed to that level of play. 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.”
ETBU is the second nationally-ranked opponent on UMHB’s 2024 slate. The first was Southwestern, a program that is currently No. 19 in the AVCA’s Top 25. At first glance, the result of that Sept. 14 match in Belton seems fairly straightforward; the Pirates came away with a 3-0 sweep, snapping UMHB’s 11-match winning streak. But a deeper look at the box score reveals a much-closer contest than the picture painted by the sweep. The first two sets were decided by two points and four points, respectively. UMHB had four more kills than the Pirates in the opening set. And in the first two sets, The Cru hit for a higher percentage.
But it was also UMHB’s sixth match of the week, and the fifth in a 50-hour span. Battling the highest-profile team on their non-conference schedule, the Crusaders weren’t so much overmatched as they were exhausted.
The situation is entirely different for UMHB this time around. Friday’s match comes after a five-day break from the regular season schedule, a benefit of the arrival of conference play. From here on out, The Cru will play no more than two matches a week, and travel no further than four-and-a-half hours away from Belton. Quite the contrast from the first four weeks of the season, when UMHB averaged 4.25 matches per week and traveled over 3,000 miles by air and bus.
“Four weekends were in three different states, and it’s not like those states are all close,” Pryor said. “Then sandwiched between that was six matches at home. That’s a lot, and it’s a lot of volume on their bodies. This weekend is actually the furthest trip we go on that we have left. The schedule is so frontloaded that we’re thinking, ‘If we can survive, even if we’re just getting splits on some of these trips, that could really help us out long-term.’ They’ve done a good job with it.
“You’re talking going from 4 and 6 [matches a week] to two, all of a sudden that really allows them to get centered and focused to where they’re having a much better balance between the classroom, social life, and athletics.”
The weekend doesn’t end with Friday’s duel against ETBU. UMHB heads to Longview, Texas on Saturday afternoon for a 2 p.m. match at LeTourneau. The Yellowjackets are led by Morgan Nix, one of Division III’s top liberos/defensive specialists and an LETU record holder in multiple defensive categories. Nix is currently No. 2 in the nation in digs per set (6.69).
As far as individual performers for The Cru, a number of last season’s primary contributors are at the forefront of the early success. Natalie Hughes is coming off a 21-kill performance against Rhodes on Sunday, Dravyn Hurd leads the team (and ranks second in the ASC) with 56.0 total blocks, and Kendall Harrington and Caitlyn Ellenburg are each averaging over 4.9 assists per set.
But amongst the newcomers is freshman Baylee Mobley, whose offensive contributions deserve recognition. Her first double-digit kill performance came against Hamline on Sept. 7, and since then, she’s recorded four more matches with at least 10 kills. Her 182.0 points is second on the team, and the native of Godley, Texas is third in total kills with 143.
“She’s going to keep us in system, she’s going to play defense well, she’s going to serve well, she’s going to pass well” Pryor said of Mobley. “She’s kind of been that glue player [for our team]. And that’s very hard for a freshman to come in and do. I don’t know that we have many freshmen in the league that are able to do that.”
Defensively, Caiden Lasala and Faith Clark will be key in The Cru’s effort to leave East Texas with a pair of victories this weekend. With the NCAA now allowing teams to designate two liberos per set—a significant rule change from the previous limitation of one—Lasala and Clark have been rotating in and out, providing a steady defensive presence for UMHB. But the duo has been so effective, in fact, that Pryor has worked to get both on the floor at the same time at various points, putting Lasala at libero and Clark as a defensive specialist.
“They’ve both done a very good job of steadily getting better,” Pryor said. “After practice today, Caiden said, ‘Coach, I’ve got a question about defense. I think I’m seeing the right thing, but I’m seeing the wrong things. When can I watch film?’ You’re thinking, ‘This kid gets it.’ She understands there’s room for growth even after one of those great matches where she has so many digs. She’s seeing, ‘I can get better. I can improve. How can I help the team?’
“Faith really does a great job of flying around and doing a lot of things for us. She goes anywhere to make a play, and because of that, it really enables the other kids to go, ‘Okay, she’s doing that. I can do that.’”
UMHB takes the court at 6 p.m. on Friday night against No. 13 ETBU, with the match broadcasted live on goetbutigers.com. Saturday’s 2 p.m. match against LeTourneau will be broadcasted on letuathletics.com, as UMHB seeks its 21st straight victory over the Yellowjackets.
