Box Score

Postgame Interview with Jolie Graf (video)

HOUSTON – Houston Baptist University senior middle blocker Jolie Graf hit .455 with a career-high 18 kills and added five blocks as the Huskies swept NJIT despite facing set points in the second and third, 3-0 (25-19, 28-26, 26-24), for their 20^th win of the season in Great West Conference volleyball Saturday afternoon at Sharp Gym.
 
Today's victory marked the 14^th 20-win season in the Huskies' 17 seasons under the direction of head coach Kaddie Platt.
 
HBU senior rightside hitter Isis Gardner added 11 kills and a match-high six blocks, while sophomore middle blocker Caiti Wenger had nine kills and five blocks for the Huskies (20-8, 6-3 GWC). Junior outside hitter Heather Leaverton posted five kills and 11 digs, and senior outside hitter Christie Dorch had five kills and 10 digs.
 
Junior setter Victoria Weatherly recorded her team-leading 13^th double-double, dishing out 44 assists to go with 11 digs and two blocks. Senior libero Courtney Whittleman led the Huskies defensively with a match-high 22 digs, and freshman defensive specialist Haley Hoffman served up three aces.
 
Renata Pandolfo led NJIT (10-16, 3-6) with 17 kills, while Janet Snell posted a double-double with 14 kills and 14 digs. Catherine Leung led the Highlanders with 16 digs and had seven kills, while Audrey Snell had 13 digs and Anna Mercado added 11.
 
HBU hit .256 for the match, while holding NJIT to .170. The Huskies outdug the Highlanders, 65-63, and outblocked them, 11-3.
 
The Huskies scored six of the first seven points of the match, including the first five, on back-to-back kills by Wenger, an ace by Leaverton and a pair of kills by Gardner. HBU led, 9-5 until Graf scored kills on five of the next six points for a 13-6 lead. The Huskies went on a four-point run on a kill by Garder, an ace by Hoffman, a solo block by Graf and another block by Graf and Dorch to push the lead to 20-11 and cruise to a 25-19 win. The Huskies hit .394 with 15 kills and only two errors in the first.
 
NJIT led by four early in the second at 10-6, but HBU fought back to tie the set, 14-14. The Highlanders edged ahead by three at 19-16, 21-18 and 22-19, but the Huskies scored three-straight, capped by a kill by Graf, to tie the set 22-22. NJIT scored the next two points to get to set point, but Graf had three-straight kills to give the Huskies set point at 25-24. After a sideout by the Highlanders, Graf had another kill, but Dorch's service error once again tied the set. Leaverton stepped up and notched back-to-back kills as the Huskies escaped the second set with a 28-26 victory and a 2-0 lead going in to the break. Graf had eight kills of the Huskies' 19 kills in the set.
 
HBU jumped out to an 8-2 lead in the third, but NJIT scored four straight to cut the lead to two. Holding a 13-11 lead, the Huskies got three straight blocks, with Gardner involved in all three, Graf in two and Wenger in the other to go up 16-11. HBU led, 18-14, until NJIT scored three straight to cut the lead to one, but Graf came through with the kill to keep the lead. The advantage was short-lived, however, as the Highlanders scored five-straight points to take a 23-21 lead and got to set point at 24-22. With their backs against the wall again, the Huskies responded by scoring the last four points of the match, including kills by Graf and Dorch.
 
The Huskies host Texas-Pan American Saturday, Nov. 12 at 2 p.m. at Sharp Gym in their final regular season match of the season and will be the final home match for seniors Graf, Whittleman, Gardner and Dorch. With today's victory, the Huskies clinched the third seed at the Great West Conference Tournament in two weeks in Grand Forks, N.D.