Box Score
Postmatch Interview with Heather Leaverton and Victoria Weatherly (video)
HOUSTON – Houston Baptist's two seniors, outside hitter
Heather Leaverton and setter
Victoria Weatherly, shined brightly in their final home match as they led the Huskies to 3-0 (25-19, 25-12, 25-18) victory over Texas-Pan American to clinch a share of the Great West Conference regular-season title Saturday afternoon at Sharp Gym.
Leaverton recorded her team-leading 15
th double-double of the season with 10 kills and 13 digs, while Weatherly had 37 assists and four kills. Junior middle blocker
Caiti Wenger led the Huskies (19-10, 7-1 GWC) with 11 kills and four blocks. Sophomore outside hitters
Bailey Keith and
Jasmine Casey each added seven kills, with Casey also coming up with 10 digs. Sophomore middle blocker
Madeline Gaffney pitched in with five kills and a couple of blocks, while sophomore libero
Esther Longoria had 12 digs.
Diara Reynolds led UTPA (10-17, 3-5) with eight kills, while Krysta Freitas and Haley Durham had four each. Juri Franzen had a match-high 16 digs to lead the Broncs defensively.
HBU hit .273 for the match, while holding UTPA to a .000 attack percentage. The Huskies outdug the Broncs, 45-29, but the Broncs held an 8-6 advantage in blocks.
The Huskies led 4-3 in the first, then ripped off seven-straight points, including five kills by Wenger to take an eight-point lead. HBU maintained a comfortable advantage throughout the set, until UTPA scored four-straight to get within four at 22-18. The Huskies scored three of the last four points to take the first, 25-19. Wenger had five kills, while Leaverton and Keith had four each for HBU in the set.
After falling behind 2-0 in the second, HBU scored five-straight, but the Broncs scored the next three to tie it at five. The Huskies inched ahead at 9-7, but scored five of the next six to lead 14-8. After a UTPA sideout, HBU scored five-straight points to extend its lead to 10. The Huskies got two more kills from Wenger, who had five more in the set, down the stretch to claim the set, 25-12, and take a 2-0 lead into the break.
HBU led 5-3 in the third, but UTPA rallied for five in a row to go up, 8-5. The Huskies answered back and tied the set, 10-10, then the two teams traded points as there were eight ties. With the set tied, 18-18, the Huskies scored the last seven points of the match, taking advantage of six attack errors by the Broncs and needing only one kill from Gaffney to close out the match, 25-18.
The Huskies will be the top seed by virtue of a tiebreaker over Utah Valley at next week's Great West Conference Tournament in Orem, Utah, where they will face the winner between fourth-seeded NJIT and fifth-seeded Chicago State Friday at 8 p.m. The championship match is slated for Saturday at 8 p.m.
