Box Score
OREM, Utah – Houston Baptist senior outside hitter
Heather Leaverton made sure her career would be extended one more night, as she willed the top-seeded Huskies to a 3-1 (20-25, 25-17, 25-18, 25-20) victory over fourth-seeded and upset-minded NJIT in the semifinals of the Great West Conference Tournament Friday night at the PE Building.
The Huskies (20-10) secured their second-straight 20-win season with their eighth-straight victory and will face second-seeded Utah Valley (17-8) in the championship match Saturday at 8 p.m. CST. The two teams shared the regular-season title with 7-1 records and each team prevailing on the other team's home floor.
Leaverton hit .396 with a career-high 23 kills, four errors on 48 attempts, and had 20 digs for the second 20-20 match of her career. Sophomore outside hitter
Jasmine Casey also had a double-double with 11 kills and led HBU with 24 digs. Sophomore middle blocker
Madeline Gaffney had 11 kills and only one error, while junior middle blocker
Caiti Wenger had 10 kills and three blocks. Senior setter and newly crowned conference player of the year
Victoria Weatherly had 58 assists, five digs, four kills, an ace and a block, while sophomore outside hitter
Bailey Keith had eight kills and three blocks. Also adding to an outstanding defensive effort, sophomore libero
Esther Longoria posted 17 digs, and sophomore defensive specialist
Haley Hoffman chipped in with 14.
Camilla Tinari led NJIT (12-16) with 20 kills to go along with 12 digs, while Janet Snell recorded 12 kills and seven digs. Danica Vukotic added nine kills and 10 digs, while Valerie Carroll had five kills and four blocks. Anna Mercado paced the Highlanders' offense with 38 assists and 12 digs, while Renata Pandolfo had 35 digs and nine assists.
HBU hit .272 for the match, while holding NJIT to .190. The Huskies outdug the Highlanders, 86-80, but NJIT held a 6-4 advantage in blocks.
The Huskies jumped out to a 7-3 lead in the first set, but the Highlanders rallied back and tied the set, 12-12. Trailing 13-12, NJIT ripped off seven-straight points, behind five kills from Tinari, to take a 19-13 lead. HBU could get no closer than four the rest of the way as NJIT struck first with a 25-20 decision. Leaverton and Tinari each had seven kills and no errors on 10 attempts for their respective teams in the set, while Vukotic added five for the Highlanders. NJIT hit .400 for the set, and HBU hit .350.
The teams went back-and-forth in the early part of the second and were tied, 7-7, until HBU scored five-straight points. The Highlanders fought back to within two at 16-14, but the Huskies answered with a five-point run to extend their lead to seven and went on to even the match with a 25-17 win. Leaverton registered six more kills in the set, while Tinari had five for NJIT. HBU hit .145, while stifling NJIT to a .034 attack percentage.
NJIT started quickly after the break and led, 7-4, but HBU scored six in a row behind three kills from Leaverton to lead, 10-7. The Huskies led by four, then scored four-straight to extend their advantage to 19-11. Casey had three kills and an ace down the stretch as the Huskies took the lead with a 25-18 victory. Casey had seven kills to lead the Huskies in the set, while Leaverton piled on with six more. Snell led the Highlanders with four. The Huskies hit .245 with 20 kills in the frame, while the Highlanders hit .114 with only nine kills.
The Huskies had trouble shaking the Highlanders in the fourth as they led, 13-11, but scored four in a row to push the margin to six. NJIT scored five out of six points late to cut the deficit to 23-20, but kills by Keith and Wenger put the match away by a score of 25-20. Gaffney, Leaverton and Keith each had four kills in the set, while Tinari had six for NJIT. The Huskies hit .417, while the Highlanders hit .324.
Tomorrow will mark the Huskies' first appearance in the championship match since joining the Great West in 2009. Live stats and video will be available, and the match will be shown on tape delay by Fox College Sports later next week.
