Recap: Team De La Cruz-Mejía Secures Week One Sweep

The win elevated Team De La Cruz-Mejía’s Week One record to 3-0, while Team Hentz slipped to 1-2.

Abercrombie, the match’s MVP 1 honoree, received her third Match MVP commendation in as many outings after tallying 15 kills on a .303 hitting percentage while adding 12 digs. The AU Pro Volleyball newcomer completed her Week One efforts with a match-high 360 leaderboard points.

De La Cruz-Mejía, meanwhile, followed with MVP 2 plaudits and 317 leaderboard points after contributing 11 kills and 10 digs in the victory. Middle blocker Kayla Caffey completed the MVP sweep for Team De La Cruz-Mejía after chipping in seven kills with three solo blocks, giving her 274 leaderboard points.

Setter Nootsara Tomkom added 30 assists and eight digs for Team De La Cruz-Mejía, which authored a .283 team-hitting percentage.

Outside hitter Dani Drews paced Team Hentz with a double-double of 11 kills and 10 digs, while setter Marlie Monserez also registered a double-double with 25 assists and 10 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Team De La Cruz-Mejía used a strong hitting performance to take the opening set by a 25-17 count, registering a .416 team hitting percentage with no attack errors. Team Hentz answered in the middle frame with a 26-24 victory to trim the margin to 49-43. However, Team De La Cruz-Mejía secured the match triumph with a 25-16 decision in the third set.

LEADERBOARD IMPACT

De La Cruz-Mejía remains in the top spot on the leaderboard with 1,066 points, while Abercrombie follows with 1,050 points. Tomkom moved into the No. 4 position in the league standings with her 210-point performance in the victory.

MATCH NOTES

• Monday’s match marked the first-ever meeting between De La Cruz-Mejía and Hentz as opposing captains.

• De La Cruz-Mejía became the first player in Athletes Unlimited Pro Volleyball history to accumulate 5,000 career win points with the first set victory … She closed the match with a league-record 5,120 win points over her four-year AU career.

• Abercrombie and De La Cruz-Mejía both surpassed the 1,000-point plateau for the week, marking the 13th and 14th times a player has tallied 1,000 or more points in a single week … De La Cruz-Mejía, who reached the mark for the fifth time in her AU career, owns four of the top six weekly leaderboard point totals in the league’s four-year history.

• De La Cruz-Mejía also piloted her team to a 3-0 record for the fifth time in her 11 career weeks as a captain … She closed Week One with a 22-11 all-time record as a team leader, extending her league record for most victories by a captain.

• De La Cruz-Mejía authored her 12th career double-double in Thursday’s victory over Team Hentz, including her second instance this season.

• Outside hitter Leketor Member-Meneh recorded her second double-digit dig performance of the season after pacing Team De La Cruz-Mejía with 13 digs … She tallied 15 digs in her season debut against Team Nuneviller on Thursday night.

• Libero Morgan Hentz authored her third double-digit dig output in as many matches this season after collecting a match-high 18 digs against Team De La Cruz-Mejía on Monday night.

• Abercrombie reached double figures in kills for the third consecutive outing following her 15-kill performance on Monday night … She also posted her second straight double-double.

• Drews eclipsed her season high with 11 kills against Team De La Cruz-Mejía on Monday night … She tallied nine kills in Thursday’s opener against Team Valentin-Anderson.

• Caffey matched the Athletes Unlimited Pro Volleyball single-week record for solo blocks after closing Week One with 12 blocks, equaling the standard set by Danielle Hart last season.

MATCH MVPS

• #1 – Brittany Abercrombie (Team De La Cruz-Mejía, +60)
• #2 – Bethania De La Cruz-Mejía (Team De La Cruz-Mejía, +40)
• #3 – Kayla Caffey (Team De La Cruz-Mejía, +20)