Team De La Cruz-Mejía, including Bethania De La Cruz-Mejía and Dani Drews, celebrates on the court in their orange jerseys in front of fans in Omaha.

Recap: Team De La Cruz-Mejía completes comeback win against Team Abercrombie to cap Week 1

Ryan Legarsky

Oct 07, 2025

OMAHA, Nebraska — Outside hitters Dani Drews and Bethania De La Cruz-Mejía combined for 30 kills and 16 digs to help Team De La Cruz-Mejía mount a late comeback and defeat Team Abercrombie, 69-68, to complete Week One of the 2025 AU Pro Volleyball Championship season at Liberty First Credit Union Arena on Monday night.

KEY MOMENT

Team De La Cruz-Mejía raced out to a 25-18 advantage in the opening frame, but Team Abercrombie took the second set 25-23. Team Abercrombie started the third set on a 12-3 scoring run, forcing Team De La Cruz-Mejía to use both of their timeouts early before mounting a comeback to overcome the deficit and take the match, 69-68.

LEADERBOARD UPDATE

Seven of the top 10 positions on the leaderboard, including the top six spots, are held by Team Hentz players, with opposite Jordan Thompson remaining atop the standings with 1,023 points. Outside hitter Brooke Nuneviller tallied 227 leaderboard points in Monday night’s finale and stands as the highest-ranked player from another team after closing Week One in seventh place with 655 points.

TEAM DE LA CRUZ-MEJÍA NOTES

Outside hitter Bethania De La Cruz-Mejía now owns a 3-2 advantage in the all-time head-to-head series against opposite Brittany Abercrombie as opposing captains … De La Cruz-Mejía has also won the last three installments in the series.
Team De La Cruz-Mejía earned the match win despite losing the final two sets, marking the 12th time in AU Pro Volleyball Championship history where a team has won a match with just one set victory … It is also the second instance this season after Team Kingdon Rishel downed Team De La Cruz-Mejía in the season opener after dropping the first two sets.
Team De La Cruz-Mejía’s 69-68 victory over Team Abercrombie on Monday night marked the sixth match in league history to be decided by a single point … De La Cruz-Mejía’s squads have been involved in three of the six contests, posting a 2-1 record in those situations.
Team De La Cruz-Mejía earned its first match victory in Week One, allowing all four teams to earn at least one win during the opening segment of the season … It marks just the fourth time over the last three seasons where all four teams have won at least once in the same week.
De La Cruz-Mejía became the first player in AU Pro Volleyball Championship history to win 40 career matches with Monday night’s victory … She now owns a 40-20 career record, including a 32-16 mark as a team captain.
De La Cruz-Mejía extended her league by receiving the 37th Match MVP award of her career … She also collected her league-record 19th career MVP 1 certificate after smashing a match-high 18 kills with eight digs, one solo block, and one service ace.
De La Cruz-Mejía secured a season-high 313 leaderboard points in Monday night’s victory, marking her league-record 29th career 300-point effort.
Libero Piyanut Pannoy led all players with 16 digs in the match on Monday night, equaling the highest single-match total by a player in the league this season … Setter Sydney Hilley set the mark with 16 digs against Team Kingdon Rishel on Sunday night.
Opposite Khat Bell reached double figures in digs for the seventh time in her AU Pro Volleyball Championship career, including the second instance this season, after finishing with 10 digs … She also added seven kills and one solo block in the victory.
Setter Micha Hancock dished out a season-high 34 assists in the victory, marking the first time she has tallied 30 or more assists this season … The Penn State graduate also contributed four kills with a pair of service aces and six digs.
Outside hitter Dani Drews earned her third Match MVP selection in as many matches after dropping in 12 kills with eight digs … The MVP 2 honoree closed out Week One with 10 or more kills in all three matches and stands third on the league’s all-time list with 28 career double-digit kill performances.

TEAM ABERCROMBIE NOTES

Led by four blocks from middle blocker Molly McCage, Team Abercrombie posted a league season-high 11 solo rejections against Team De La Cruz-Mejía in the loss on Monday night.
Opposite Brittany Abercrombie finished with 15 or more kills for the 17th time in her two-year AU Pro Volleyball Championship career after pacing her team with 17 kills on Monday night … She also posted an impressive .467 hitting percentage in the loss, marking the second-best mark of her career behind a .484 success rate against Team De La Cruz-Mejía on October 14, 2024.
Outside hitter Alexa Gray authored 10 or more kills for the second match in a row after finishing with 10 kills against Team De La Cruz-Mejía on Monday … She tallied 13 kills in Sunday’s victory over Team Kingdon Rishel.
Setter Sydney Hilley collected a match-high 36 assists in Monday’s Week One finale, giving her 27 matches with 30 or more assists in her AU Pro Volleyball Championship career … Hilley has tallied 30 or more assists in eight of her last nine outings dating back to last season.
Outside hitter Brooke Nuneviller picked up MVP 3 laurels after nearly registering a double-double with nine kills and a season-high 13 digs … She reached double-digits in digs for the 19th time in her AU Pro Volleyball Championship career.
Nuneviller also became the 12th different player to receive Match MVP honors this season.