BELTON — Another weekend of fall sports action is upon us, with football, volleyball, and men’s and women’s soccer all in action in the days ahead as conference play ramps up. This preview is designed to give a quick, detailed look at the UMHB teams and their opponents as we head into a two-day stretch of key matchups in the second half of the regular season.
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A Top 10 opponent makes its way to Belton on Friday night, as the Mayborn Campus Center will host a highly-impactful match for UMHB Volleyball (18-4, 3-3 ASC) against 10th-ranked East Texas Baptist (17-1, 5-0 ASC). ETBU, who beat The Cru, 3-1, in Marshall on Sept. 27, is 4-0 since its first match of the season against UMHB. The Tigers hold a 16-match winning streak and are 17-1 overall, having swept three of their last four opponents.
For UMHB, the return to the Mayborn Center comes after a difficult eight-game road stretch. The Cru played matches in Arkansas, East Texas, and West Texas in that span, and hasn’t played in front of the home crowd since Sept. 14. Coming off the loss to ETBU, the Crusaders are 2-2, with losses to LeTourneau and Hardin-Simmons and wins over UT Dallas and Howard Payne. The Cru has the best opponent hitting percentage in the ASC (.133) and averages 12.35 kills/set, with Kendall Harrington having tallied 13+ kills in two of UMHB’s last three matches. Four different Crusaders—Harrington, Dravyn Hurd, Baylee Mobley, and Natalie Hughes—enter the weekend averaging more than 2.00 kills/set.
After falling to both, 3-1, in the first round of conference play, UMHB has a chance to return the favor against its East Texas conference foes this weekend. Friday’s 6 p.m. match is set to be followed by a 1 p.m. home match against LETU (9-11, 2-3 ASC). UMHB has earned a victory in eight consecutive home matches against LETU, and The Cru has won all three of its regular season home matches against ETBU since 2021.
Saturday continues with UMHB Football (2-2, 1-1 ASC) seeking a bounce-back performance in the aftermath of a disappointing 44-21 loss to sixth-ranked Hardin-Simmons at home. The Cru kicks off against Howard Payne (2-4, 0-2 ASC) in Brownwood at 2:30 p.m., and will have Jake Wright starting at quarterback for the first time this season. Wright, a transfer from Pittsburg State, entered last Saturday’s game in the second quarter, and finished 12-of-23 passing for 226 yards. It will be Wright’s first collegiate start. UMHB is beginning a three-game road stretch that will last four weeks, and includes rematches against ETBU and Hardin-Simmons on Nov. 2 and Nov. 9, respectively. The Cru is 17-0 against HPU since 2006 and 11-2 all-time in games played in Brownwood.
HPU, with a new quarterback and a new head coach at the helm, dealt with a slow start, taking back-to-back losses to Hardin-Simmons and Nelson University. But the Yellow Jackets have improved consistently from that point on, displayed in last week’s 42-33 loss to ETBU. In an offensive shootout, HPU kept pace with the Tigers’ explosive passing game, throwing for 325 yards and rushing for another 117. The defense has struggled to get off the field in the first six games, allowing 31.8 points per game, and 366.8 yards of offense per game.
A soccer doubleheader in Belton closes out the athletic weekend, with UMHB men’s and women’s soccer hosting UT Dallas on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., respectively. The Comets, who are transitioning to Division II, do not count towards the ASC standings, so these matches will be recorded as non-conference contests. However, UTD still counts within the conference’s statistics.
UMHB women’s soccer (9-2-1, 3-1 ASC) heads into its lone match of the week with a perfect 6-0 record at home this season. That included two wins last weekend, both 2-0 shutouts, over LeTourneau and ETBU, as UMHB notched its third-straight clean sheet. The Crusader offensive attack leads the ASC in shots on goal (9.67/game) and the defensive performance has been just as good, ranking first in the conference in fewest goals allowed (8 in 12 matches). UMHB is the only team in the ASC with fewer than 10 goals surrendered this season.
UTD (6-5), playing a schedule composed mostly of Division III programs, is 3-1 in its last four matches. The Comets also shut out LETU and ETBU last weekend by a combined 7-0 margin, and have put together a solid season up to this point, highlighted by a Sept. 8 win at No. 12 Virginia Wesleyan. UTD is averaging 1.73 goals per match, and has allowed the third-fewest goals in the ASC (15 in 11 matches). Claire O’Sullivan, the ASC’s most recent Defensive Player of the Week, leads UTD’s consistent defense. Defense has been the name of the game when UMHB and UTD have played in recent years, with every match dating back to 2019 decided by one goal or less. That includes UMHB’s 2-1 win over the Comets back on Sept. 28 of this season, which marked the first time since 2018 that The Cru found the back of the net multiple times in a single match against UTD.
UMHB men’s soccer (6-5-2, 3-0-1 ASC) has found its stride, and carries a four-game unbeaten streak into Saturday’s match. While The Cru took three straight losses in late September, including a 2-0 defeat at the hands of UT Dallas, UMHB has outscored its last four opponents, 6-2, and is atop the ASC standings with an .875 win percentage in league play. Offensively, the Crusaders average 6.46 shots on goal per game, and allow just 1.23 goals per game.
Saturday’s matchup features the top two defenses in the ASC as UTD allows just 1.09 goals per match. The Comets (8-1-2) are coming off a 3-0 win over LeTourneau and have won six of their last seven. Offensively, UTD ranks second in the ASC in goals per game (2.55) and the Comets’ 9.09 shots on goal per match is far and away the highest mark in the conference. Much of that offensive production has come from senior Riley O’Donnell, whose eight goals leads the league.
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