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Buy Photos HereHOUSTON – The HBU volleyball team staved off a Lamar rally to claim a 3-2 edge (25-20, 28-26, 13-25, 25-22, 21-19) on Saturday afternoon inside Sharp Gym.
The Huskies (15-12, 7-5 SLC) were led by a trio of double-double performances from outside hitters
Jessica Wooten and
Bailey Banks, and junior setter
Kayla Armer. Wooten recorded her team-leading 12th double-double with 19 kills and 14 digs, while Banks picked up her sixth in a 16-kill, 10-dig performance. Armer captained the offense against the Cardinals (13-12, 3-8 SLC), amassing 50 assists along with 15 digs for her 10th double-double on the season.
Defensively, junior libero
Melissa Fuchs anchored the back row with a match-high 22 digs, tying fellow libero Lauren Stahlman of Lamar.
Wooten and Banks paced the offense in the first two sets, recording 11 and eight kills, respectively. HBU took the first set with ease at 25-20, before edging the Cardinals 28-26 in set two.
Lamar responded out of the break, jumping out to a 20-4 lead in an eventual 25-13 win set three. The Cardinals limited the Huskies' attack to a -.074 efficiency in the stanza and recorded six of their 14 total blocks for the match.
Lamar started off strong again in the fourth set, leading 4-0 before HBU evened the match. Tied 6-6, Cardinal outside Autumn Taylor broke serve with a kill to reclaim the lead, as Lamar held advantage the rest of the way in a 25-22 victory.
Both teams battled in the fifth and deciding set, changing the lead eight times and pulling even on a total of 18 different occasions, as neither team held more than a one-point edge until the very end. Tied 19-19, Armer gave the Huskies the set's seventh match point with a kill, before Lamar ended the match with an attack error, 21-19.
HBU, having completed a 3-0 showing during its homestand, will now play three of its last four on the road to close out the regular season. The Huskies will visit Southland-Conference-leading Texas A&M – Corpus Christi on Tuesday, before hosting second place Central Arkansas on Thursday for Senior Day.
Postgame Quotes – Head Coach Trent Herman
Overview of match…"We got off to a really good start, before running into some passing problems. Give Lamar credit. They really picked it up in the third and fourth set. In the third set, we really just didn't have an answer and then it was a back-and-forth-match the last two sets. Our kids really did a great job of refocusing and coming out strong for the final set to win today."
On winning all three matches of homestand…"These mean a lot. We needed to win these. Taking care of our home court is important and now we just have one more left against Central Arkansas next Thursday."
On facing tough competition in upcoming week…"We've got the top two teams in the conference next week. On Tuesday, we go on the road to Texas A&M – Corpus Christi, before coming back home to face Central Arkansas on Senior Day.
Allison Doerpinghaus is our lone senior and that match will be important. We want to send her off on a good note."
