St. Edward’s volleyball team advances to the Heartland Conference Tournament after winning in four sets against Dallas Baptist University by scores of 25-18, 25-23, 18-25, 25-19 on Nov. 11.

The top four teams in the conference advance to the Heartland Conference Tournament, and sitting at 5-6 in conference play, DBU and SEU shared the last spot, making the final game of the regular season a loser-go-home situation.

SEU kept control mostly throughout, conceding a run to DBU larger than three points only once through the entirety of the game — in the only set they lost.

“I think if we continue to keep the intensity level up and not drop when the going gets tough… we have to be able to step up and do our job,” said Head Coach Mary DeJute. “A lot of times earlier in the season when people would push against us we would tend to give in, and we’re not doing that now. So, we’re playing much more mature and knowledgeable, which is great.”

Both senior outside hitters Katie Martin and Madison McClurg played on the aggressive offensively, combining for 35 kills to ensure Senior Day was not going to be the final game of their St. Edward’s careers.

Leading the way by tying a season-high with 21 kills, Martin is eager to continue her final season at the Hilltop.

“This year we really had to fight down to the finish and it came down, obviously, to the very last conference game and it means a lot that we pulled out this win,” said Martin about the win.

With the victory, SEU is the No. 4 seed in the four-team tournament bracket. They will head to Fort Smith, Arkansas to face No. 1 seed and host, University of Arkansas-Fort Smith at 5pm on Nov. 17.

Heading into the game, SEU will look too break a nine-game losing streak against UAFS that dates back to November 2013, a situation Martin is very well aware of.

“I’m looking forward to playing Fort-Smith because we have yet to beat them in all the years I’ve been here, so I think that would be the icing on the senior cake — to finally beat them.”