Box Score

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – HBU freshman outside hitter Jessica Wooten and junior outside hitter Megan McStravick led the sixth-seeded Huskies to a 3-1(25-23, 25-20, 23-25, 25-23) upset over third-seeded Oral Roberts at the Southland Conference volleyball tournament Friday at the Dugan Wellness Center.
 
"It was just a balanced team effort," head coach Trent Herman said. "We had four players in double figure kills and we played great defensively, with (Jessica) Wooten having an incredible match."
 
Wooten recorded 11 kills and 20 digs, while McStravick contributed with 10 kills and 14 digs for the Huskies. Junior middle blocker Madeline Gaffney led HBU (15-17) with 15 kills. Junior outside hitter Bailey Keith also recorded 13 kills for the Huskies. Freshman setter Kayla Armer had a match-high of 50 assists for HBU. Junior libero Haley Hoffman helped lead the team with 20 digs.
 
Sara Pope led ORU (22-7) with 12 kills, while teammate McKenna Qualls recorded 10 kills. Laura Taylor led the Golden Eagles with 35 assists. Bruna Silva had a match-high of 24 digs for ORU. Stephanie Mab had 16 digs, while Kylie Johnson had 13 digs for the Golden Eagles.
 
In the first set, the Huskies took an 11-6 lead, but ORU rebounded to score the next five and tie the set. ORU led 18-17, but HBU came back to take the lead at 23-22. After the Golden Eagles tied the set again, the Huskies scored the last two points to take the 1-0 advantage in the match.
 
In the second set, the Huskies used their momentum to jump on top of the Golden Eagles 12-3. HBU held ORU to .051 hitting percentage for the set and cruised to a 25-20 victory.
 
The third set was close the entire way, with no more than a two point difference between the two teams during the frame. With the two teams tied at 23, ORU scored the final two points of the set to climb back into the match.
 
In the final set, the Huskies were down 6-2, but were able to score five of the next six points to tie the set 7-7. The set was tied 16-16, but ORU scored three straight to take the lead. The Golden Eagles led 23-19 and looked on the verge of sending the match to a fifth set, but the Huskies scored the final six points of the match for the upset. Keith scored three straight kills to start the run, followed by a kill by Wooten to tie it. Then, Wooten and Wenger teamed up for a block and an attack error by ORU ended the match.
 
"We did two things really well today," Herman said. "We served more aggressive, so they couldn't get their middles as involved, and we touched a ton of balls by their outsides and played defense."

The Golden Eagles outblocked the Huskies 10-8, but the Huskies outdug the Golden Eagles, 82-76.
 
The Huskies return to action as they face second-seeded Northwestern State in the semi-finals starting tomorrow at 11 a.m.