Box Score

Postmatch Interview with Victoria Weatherly (video)

HOUSTON – Houston Baptist University senior libero Courtney Whittleman had 29 digs to become the school's all-time digs leader and help lead the Huskies to a 3-1 (26-28, 25-19, 25-23, 25-17) victory over Utah Valley in Great West Conference volleyball Saturday afternoon at Sharp Gym.
 
Whittleman came into the match needing 25 digs to tie Stephanie Lust atop HBU's all-time digs list and went four better to set the current mark of 1,977. Whittleman, last year's GWC Defensive Player of the Year, is on pace to become the first Husky to record 2,000 digs for her career.
 
HBU junior setter Victoria Weatherly paced the offense with 50 assists, 10 digs, three kills and a pair of blocks for her team-leading 10^th double-double of the season. Junior outside hitter Heather Leaverton and senior rightside hitter Isis Gardner tied for the match high with 17 kills apiece, with Leaverton adding 10 digs for her seventh double-double and Gardner making only three attacking errors to hit .452.
 
Freshman Jasmine Casey added 14 kills and nine digs for HBU (17-6, 4-1 GWC), while sophomore middle blocker Caiti Wenger had eight kills and a match-high four blocks. Freshman middle blocker Kaiti Waters came up huge off the bench, hitting .700 with seven kills, a block and an ace. Freshman defensive specialist Haley Hoffman chipped in with seven digs and a pair of aces.
 
Chelsey Heaps led Utah Valley (15-7, 4-1) with 15 kills, while Erica Nish had 12 and three blocks, and Sarah Clement added 11 kills and three blocks. Brookelyn Campbel had 46 assists, a team-leading 14 digs and three blocks for the Wolverines. Rachel Anderson had 13 digs for Utah Valley, while McKenna Tait had 11 and Patti Flagg had 10.
 
HBU hit .292 for the match, while Utah Valley hit .237. The Huskies outdug the Wolverines, 68-64, but were outblocked, 9-6. HBU had seven service aces, but were only aced once.
 
HBU fell behind 12-7 in the first set and trailed 21-17 late, but the Huskies rallied to tie the set 22-22 and had a set points at 24-23 and 25-24. However, Utah Valley scored two-straight points to gain the advantage. After the Huskies sided out to tie it, the Wolverines scored the last two points to take the set, 28-26.
 
The Huskies led 15-13 in the second, before scoring three-straight points to control by five. HBU led 23-19 and got a kill from Leaverton and an ace by Hoffman to tie the match with a 25-19 decision heading into the break.
 
The third set was tied, 9-9, until HBU scored five-straight points for a 14-9 lead. Utah Valley fought back and got to within two at 17-15, then within one at 21-20. Casey had back-to-back kills for the Huskies to give them a 23-20 lead, but the Wolverines fought a couple of set points to get back to within one before Leaverton ended the set with a kill for a 25-23 win.
 
Utah Valley scored the first two points of the fourth, but Gardner and Wenger combined for four kills as HBU rebounded to score the next seven points. Gardner later had three-straight kills to push the Huskies' lead to 19-10 and they took their largest lead of the set at 23-13 after kills by Waters and Wenger. Casey ended the match with a kill for a 25-17 victory.
 
The Huskies return to action in their final non-conference match of the season against Stephen F. Austin State Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. in Nacogdoches, Texas.