Replay
CONWAY, Arkansas – The sixth-seeded HBU volleyball team rode a balanced attack, paced by a career-high 17 kills from sophomore middle blocker
Blair Gillard, to upset three seed Stephen F. Austin, 3-1 (27-25, 19-25, 27-25, 25-18), in the quarterfinals of the 2015 Southland Conference Tournament on Friday afternoon inside Farris Center on the campus of Central Arkansas.
Gillard paced the Huskies (16-16) with 17 kills on 36 swings for a match-high .333 clip. The native of La Grange, Texas, surpassed her previous best of 15 kills established earlier this season on October 10, also coming against SFA (20-14).
Junior outside hitter
Jessica Wooten recorded her team-leading 14th double-double, amassing a season-high 19 digs along with 12 kills. Her 12-kill efforts gives her 1,101 for her career, moving passed Heather Leaverton (1,196, 2009-12) for fifth all-time in program history and the most in the NCAA Division I era.
Sophomore middle blocker
Bailey Banks finished with 14 kills, while junior setter
Kayla Armer captained the offense with 48 assists.
Defensively, junior libero
Melissa Fuchs racked up 20 digs, while sophomore defensive specialist
Hailey Erickson recorded 10 on the back row.
Both teams went back and forth to open the match, but HBU limited the Ladyjacks to just a .143 hitting percentage to claim a 27-25 edging.
SFA responded in set two, turning in a match-high .350 clip even the match at the break, 25-19.
The third set proved to be the most contested of the match, as both teams traded the lead six times and pulled even on 12 other points. Tied 24-24, a kill from Gillard gave the Huskies the advantage, before Wooten turned in a pivotal service ace give HBU set point. A kill from SFA's Makenzee Hanna pulled the Ladyjacks back within one point, but an attack error on the next serve sealed the set in HBU's favor, 27-25.
The Huskies rode the momentum into set four, turning in a team-high .321 clip to close the match with a 25-18 triumph.
The six-three upset is the second for head coach
Trent Herman and HBU. The Huskies upset third-seeded Oral Roberts, 3-1, in the 2013 SLC Tournament, marking the first tourney win for HBU as a member of the league.
The Huskies will face seven seed Sam Houston State on Saturday in a 2:30 p.m. first serve.
Postgame Quotes – Head Coach Trent Herman
On being the lower seed…
"We had an up and down season. We would play really well at times, then we would play not as well. The good thing about this team is they stayed even keel the entire season, knowing that they're a good team. They just hadn't put it all together on a consistence basis. They did a really nice job preparing this week. Having a full week to prepare really made it nice. They did an excellent job executing the game plan."
On preparing for the semifinals…
"It's a short turnaround. We've done our scouting on both teams so we'll just have to watch the match tonight and take it in. We'll get a good night sleep and get ready for tomorrow."
Sophomore Middle Blocker Blair Gillard
On offensive game…
"Offensively, our passing was there. We can't do anything without the back row and the setters. We were working in practice all week, running middles and transitions. Our goal was to get up every time the ball was there and we did. We did our job and it paid off."
