Sydney Hilley, Dani Drews, and Molly McCage high-five

Recap: Team Abercrombie Breaks Away in Third Set for 71-54 Victory

© Athletes Unlimited, LLC 2024 / Credit: Asher Kerr
Eric Rhew
Oct 14, 2024

MESA, Arizona — The most anticipated match in the first two weeks of the 2024 Athletes Unlimited Pro Volleyball season certainly lived up to the expectations on Monday night at Arizona Athletic Grounds.

When the dust settled, it was Team Abercrombie enjoying the success of a perfect week after dispatching Team De La Cruz-Mejía by a 71-54 margin to close the Week Two schedule.

The victory allowed Team Abercrombie to complete a sweep of its three matches, while Team De La Cruz-Mejía slipped to 2-1.

Opposite Brittany Abercrombie put the finishing touches on an outstanding Week Two performance, tallying 16 kills with a .484 hitting performance and 13 digs en route to MVP 1 distinction and 386 leaderboard points.

Outside hitter Dani Drews followed with an MVP 2 effort and 325 leaderboard points after registering 11 kills and 12 digs for her third double-double of the season.

Setter Sydney Hilley closed out the Match MVP sweep by dishing out 31 assists with nine digs to garner MVP 3 laurels and 244 leaderboard points.

Team De La Cruz-Mejía was paced by outside hitter Bethania De La Cruz-Mejía’s 17 kills and nine digs, while opposite Willow Johnson chipped in 11 kills with five digs. Setter Natalia Valentin-Anderson authored her league-leading sixth double-double of the season with 36 assists and 14 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Team Abercrombie surged to the early advantage, using four kills from Drew and a .323 team hitting percentage to secure a 25-21 first set victory. But, Team De La Cruz-Mejía answered with a 25-21 victory in the middle frame to even the match score at 46-all.

LEADERBOARD IMPACT

Drews secured a seat in the captain’s chair for Week Three after rising into fourth place on the leaderboard with 1,383 points. Abercrombie and De La Cruz-Mejía will remain as captains in Week Three, but switch into the Gold and Orange jerseys, respectively.

MATCH NOTES

  • Abercrombie and De La Cruz-Mejía squared off as opposing captains for the first time in their Athletes Unlimited Pro Volleyball careers.

  • Team Abercrombie limited Team De La Cruz-Mejía to just eight points in the third and deciding set, marking the fewest points scored by a team in a single set in Athletes Unlimited Pro Volleyball history.

  • The win allowed Abercrombie and outside hitter Paige Briggs-Romine to finish Week Two as the only players with a perfect 6-0 record … De La Cruz-Mejía, outside hitter Leketor Member-Meneh, middle blocker Kayla Haneline and libero Manami Kojima had their five-match win streaks snapped.

  • The loss snapped De La Cruz-Mejía’s six-match win streak as a team captain … She now stands 24-12 in her career as a team leader.

  • Valentin-Anderson, the only player in the league with a double-double in all six matches, fashioned the 25th double-double of her Athletes Unlimited Pro Volleyball career … She also surpassed 30 assists in a match for the 31st time in her 36 career outings.

  • De La Cruz-Mejía amassed 15 or more kills for the 22nd time in her Athletes Unlimited career, including her third instance this season.

  • Abercrombie authored her third double-double in six matches this season … She also closed Week One with back-to-back double-double performances.

  • Abercrombie also surpassed 1,000 leaderboard points for the week after notching her sixth straight match with 300 or more leaderboard points … She closed Week Two with a league-best 1,013 points to move into first place in the league standings.

  • Hilley posted 30 or more assists for the 18th time in her career, moving into sole possession of third place on the league’s all-time ledger … She has tallied 30 or more assists in five consecutive matches, including a pair of 40-assist outings to begin Week Two.

MATCH MVPS

  • #1 – Brittany Abercrombie (Team Abercrombie, +60)
  • #2 – Dani Drews (Team Abercrombie, +40)
  • #3 – Sydney Hilley (Team Abercrombie, +20)