LUBBOCK, Texas (October 29, 2015) – Maddie Johnson achieved a Lubbock Christian University volleyball milestone with her game-high 13 kills in a 3-0 sweep of Dallas Baptist on Saturday afternoon inside the Rip Griffin Center, as she became the 11^th player to eclipse the 1,000-kill mark as a Lady Chaparral while LCU rose above the Patriots in the conference standings for the third spot.
 
Johnson joins teammate Kacey Deterding in the exclusive club, as Deterding accomplished the same feat on September 29^th of this season at Wayland Baptist. Mallory Powell tallied another double-double with 42 assists and 14 digs, and Kelsie French handled a game-best 23 digs. The win against the Patriots was of high importance as it puts the Lady Chaps (16-9, 10-5 Heartland) one full game ahead of DBU (14-10, 9-6 Heartland) heading into the final week of regular season play. The top four teams in the league move on to the conference tournament, held at number-one seed Arkansas-Fort Smith November 20-21.
 
Two attack errors and a service ace at the expense of the Lady Chaps did not provide the best start to the afternoon, but kills by Deterding, Christiana Tavo and Emily Hanaway quickly evened the score. The Patriots owned a 7-4 advantage before a 6-0 LCU run became a 10-7 Lady Chap lead. DBU trailed 15-10 but pulled to within 17-16 on a kill by Brooke Manley before three Patriot attack errors paired with three LCU kills pushed the Lady Chaps ahead, 23-17. A Johnson kill placed her team at set point before Hanaway delivered a serve that flew off of the tipped hands of a defender for the final point.
 
Set two was tightly played throughout, and at 24-21 it seemed as if DBU was going to even the match ensuing a Lady Chap service error. Kills by Ariel Froeschl and Deterding brought LCU to within 24-23, and a DBU attack fell into the net to knot the score at 24-all. The teams traded kills up to 27-27 until Hanaway served up another ace and the Patriots were called for four hits after an attack by Johnson to put the Lady Chaps up 2-0 in the match.
 
Tavo put up two quick kills for LCU's first lead of the third set, and a Kyleigh Lucia service ace extended the margin to 6-2. The Patriots pieced together five straight points to take their first lead of the set at 10-9 and continued their lead at 16-14. A pair of Hanaway kills came during a 6-0 LCU spurt to turn the lead over to the Lady Chaps at 20-16. DBU was unable to pull any closer than three points the remainder of the way for the LCU victory.
 
The Lady Chaps travel to Midwestern State Tuesday for a 6 p.m. non-conference match before wrapping up their conference slate at Oklahoma Panhandle State Thursday at 7 p.m.