Box Score

Postmatch Interview with Caiti Wenger (video)

DENTON, Texas – Houston Baptist junior middle blocker Caiti Wenger hit .577 with a career-high 16 kills and only one error to lead the Huskies to a 3-1 (16-25, 25-15, 25-22, 25-13) season-opening victory against future Southland Conference rival Lamar Friday afternoon in the North Texas Invitational at the North Texas Volleyball Center.
 
Sophomore middle blocker Madeline Gaffney, who sat out last season after transferring from Texas State, hit .480 with 15 kills and four blocks in her HBU debut, while senior outside hitter Heather Leaverton recorded a double-double with 11 kills, 11 digs and added three service aces for the Huskies (1-0). Senior setter Victoria Weatherly posted 44 assists, four digs, two kills and a pair of blocks.
 
“It was a great team effort,” head coach Trent Herman. “The middle worked hard and set the tone for the entire team. Losing the first set was just early-match jitters with a group of players playing together for the first time with a new coach and a new system.”
 
Madi Martin led Lamar (0-1) with nine kills and 26 assists to go alone with four digs. Christina Hobbs had eight kills, while Tiffany Hunnicutt had six. Megan Schwartz recorded a match-high 18 digs for the Cardinals.
 
The Huskies took a 7-4 lead in the first set, but the Cardinals scored five-straight points to lead by two. Lamar went ahead 13-9 until HBU cut the deficit to two at 16-14, but Lamar scored eight of the next nine points to take a 24-15 advantage. After the Huskies sided out, the Cardinals closed out the set, 25-16. Leaverton led HBU with five kills, while Wenger added four without an error. Hunnicutt led Lamar with five kills in the set.
 
HBU jumped out to an 8-3 lead in the second set, then extended the advantage at 12-6. A kill by Weatherly and back-to-back aces by Leaverton led to five-straight points and put the Huskies ahead, 18-8. The Huskies went on to even the match with a 25-15 decision in the second. Wenger had four more kills, while Leaverton had three kills and three aces for HBU. Hobbs led the Cardinals with four kills.
 
Neither team led by more than a point in the early going of the third set as they were tied, 10-10, but Lamar scored back-to-back points to lead 12-10. HBU tied the set again at 13-13 and the teams traded points until the Huskies scored three in a row to take an 18-16 lead. The Cardinals tied the set at 18 and it remained tied at 21, but HBU scored three-straight to get to set point at 24-21. After a sideout by Lamar, Gaffney finished off the set with a kill for a 25-22 win. Gaffney led HBU with six kills in the set, while Wenger added five more. Martin had five kills for the Cardinals.
 
The Huskies went up 7-4 in the fourth, but the Cardinals scored four straight to take an 8-7 lead. HBU answered with a five-point run to go ahead, 12-8. Lamar cut HBU's lead to one at 13-12, but Gaffney dominated late in the match, notching three kills and a block assists, as the Huskies scored six-straight to take a 19-12 lead. After the Cardinals sided out, HBU scored the last six points of the match, the last two on aces by Longoria to claim a 25-13 win.
 
HBU hit .231 for the match, while holding Lamar to .144. The Cardinals outdug the Huskies, 48-39, but the HBU held a 6-3 advantage in blocks and a 7-4 edge in service aces.
 
The Huskies return to action with two matches Saturday, first against host North Texas at noon, followed by UMKC at 5 p.m.