Box Score
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Houston Baptist sophomore outside hitter
Jasmine Casey recorded 21 kills, 21 digs and eight assists to lead the Huskies to a 3-1 (23-25, 25-17, 25-14, 25-16) victory over Louisiana-Monroe in the finale of the Arkansas Invitational Saturday afternoon at Barnhill Arena.
Casey posted a 20-20 match as a freshman with 23 kills and 20 digs against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Oct. 6, 2011. She has the only two 20-20 matches since HBU returned to NCAA Division I competition in 2007 and with her eight assists, nearly recorded the Huskies' first triple-double over that span.
Senior outside hitter
Heather Leaverton had a career-high 19 kills and had 15 digs for her team-leading fifth double-double for the Huskies (7-4). Senior setter
Victoria Weatherly racked up 53 assists, the fourth 50-plus assist effort of her career, and also had 14 digs and four kills. Junior middle blocker
Caiti Wenger hit .417 with 14 kills and a pair of blocks, while sophmore outside hitter
Bailey Keith had seven kills and sophomore middle blocker
Madeline Gaffney chipped in with six. Sophomore defensive specialist
Haley Hoffman blasted five service aces and had 10 digs, and sophomore libero
Esther Longoria recorded 15 digs.
Samantha Morse led ULM (3-5) with eight kills, while Blanca Ocana had seven. Zuzana Markova also had seven kills to go along with 16 assists, 10 digs and three blocks. Marcela Araya led the Warhawks defensively with 12 digs, and Madison Martin had 11. Iren Marinova posted six kills with no errors and nine block assists.
HBU hit .285 for the match, while holding ULM to .171. The Huskies held a huge advantage in digs, 79-51, while the Warhawks led in blocks, 12.5-5.
ULM scored four of the first five points of the match, but HBU rebounded to tie the set, 5-5. The Warhawks scored the next three points, then extended their lead to 12-7. The Huskies fought back to tie the set at 14 and again at 16, but the Warhawks scored four-straight points to lead, 20-16. Facing set point at 24-18, HBU reeled off five-straight points to get to within one at 24-23, but ULM held on for a 25-23 decision. Casey led HBU with six kills in the first set, while Ocana, Marinova and Markova each had three for ULM.
The Warhawks led 5-3 early in the second set, but the Huskies scored five-straight points to take a three-point advantage. ULM answered to go up, 10-9 and 11-10, but HBU again used a five-point run to take a 15-11 lead. The Huskies were able to hold the Warhawks at arms distance the rest of the way and evened up the match with a 25-17 victory. Casey registered six more kills in the second, with Leaverton adding five for HBU, and Morse leading ULM with four.
HBU exploded out of the gate in the third set, scoring the first six points. The Huskies extended their lead to nine at 12-3 and maintained a safe lead at 18-11. HBU then scored four-straight to open up a 22-11 gap, and coasted for a 25-14 win to take a 2-1 lead in the match. Casey had seven kills in the set, matching ULM's total as a team, with Leaverton adding five more.
In the fourth, the Huskies scored five in a row to jump out to an 8-3 lead. After pushing the margin to 14-11, the Warhawks responded with four-straight point to cut the deficit to 14-11. ULM got to within two at 15-13 and 16-14, but HBU still led at 18-15. The Huskies then ripped off six-straight points, four coming on kills by Leaverton, to get to set point, then closed out the match, 25-16. Leaverton led the Huskies with seven kills, while the Warhawks only had eight as a team, and Wenger had four.
The Huskies return to action when they host UT-San Antonio Monday at 6:30 p.m. at Sharp Gym.
