College volleyball: Lady Falcons take shot at defending Heartland title

Leaving the floor after the Lady Falcons’ second loss to St. Edward’s this season, Steve Aicinena shook the hand of Lady Hilltoppers’ head coach Sean Donahue.

And he left Donahue with a message.

“If you plan to beat us by tipping next time,” Aicinena said, “You can forget it.”

Time to put Aicinena’s message to the test. Taking the fourth and final seed into the Heartland Conference tournament the Lady Falcons won last season, UTPB will tip off against regular-season champ St. Edward’s at 5 p.m. today in Austin.

Rest assured, the Lady Falcons (16-19) won’t be the same team the Lady Hilltoppers beat twice during the regular season.

Before the season began, UTPB had to build its chemistry from scratch after losing four starters off the squad that qualified for the NCAA Division II tournament last year.

Things started slowly. Through the first two weeks of the season, the Lady Falcons started 1-8 behind an attack that struggled to put kills away.

But UTPB kept getting better, sparked by the leadership of senior setter Brianna Tunnel and senior opposite Molly Atnip, the only two starters remaining from the Lady Falcons’ championship squad.

“Without those two, I don’t think we’d be where we are now,” middle blocker Christina Bogers said. “Bri is very intense. And Molly’s good at getting everybody up, but at the same time keeping it light.”

More importantly, the combination’s refusal to let teams attack the Lady Falcons’ defense set the tone for a UTPB defense that has put together better numbers than the team that won the regular-season conference title.

Shutting down opponents at the net, Atnip ranks second on the Lady Falcons with 107 blocks. No Heartland team recorded more stuffs in conference play than UTPB.

And Tunnel has established a reputation as the best defensive setter in the Heartland Conference.

A libero in high school, Tunnel has mixed a solid sense of positioning with an uncanny ability to pick up balls from an awkward angle to average 3.56 digs-per-set, tied for the sixth-best mark in the conference.

Tunnel is the only setter in the top 10.

“For me, defense has always been one of the fun aspects of volleyball,” Tunnel said. “But putting defense first is always a good thing.”

Led by Tunnel and freshman libero Danae Eckart, who finished fourth in the Heartland Conference at 4.67 digs per set, UTPB ranks second in the conference in digs.

That never-let-a-ball fall mentality — Atnip crashed into the scorer’s table trying to get to a ball against Dallas Baptist — makes UTPB dangerous. Ever since their second loss to the Lady Hilltoppers, UTPB has consistently improved against the tip, St. Edward’s signature attack.

The Lady Falcons nearly knocked off the Lady Hilltoppers in Austin the first time. St. Edward’s is the only Heartland Conference team UTPB hasn’t beaten.

And every time the Lady Falcons feel like they need to settle a score, the defensive intensity picks up.

“That’s the motivation for us right now,” Atnip said. “We have the underdog mentality. No one expects us to win.”

But the Lady Hilltoppers better expect an improved Lady Falcons squad.

Because the same approach doesn’t beat UTPB more than once.