ReplayCONWAY, Ark. – The sixth-seeded HBU volleyball team swept seven seed Sam Houston State (25-18, 25-19, 26-24) in the semifinals of the 2015 Southland Conference Tournament on Saturday afternoon inside Farris Center on the campus of Central Arkansas.
With the win, the Huskies (17-16) advance to the championship match of the SLC Tournament against top-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The two teams will square off in a 3:05 p.m. first serve on Sunday with the winner earning the league's automatic bid the 2015 NCAA Volleyball Championship. The match will be broadcast on
ESPN3.
Junior outside hitter
Jessica Wooten continued her stellar performance on either side of the net, recording her second double-double of the tournament and team-leading 15th of the season with 13 digs and 11 kills. Senior middle blocker
Allison Doerpinghaus followed Wooten with 10 kills.
Junior setter
Kayla Armer captained the offense with 30 assists, while HBU held the Bearkats (14-18) to a .000 hitting percentage for the match.
The Huskies turned in a match-high .267 clip in the opening set and nearly replicated the effort in set two in taking a 2-0 lead into the break with 25-18 and 25-19 victories.
In the third set, sophomore middle blocker
Blair Gillard (6) and Doerpinghaus (5) combined for 11 kills as HBU closed the match in straight sets. Tied 24-24, Doerpinghaus gave the Huskies the edge, before a SHSU attack error sealed the decision.
Postgame Quotes – Head Coach Trent HermanOn offensive play…"Our offense has been really gelling as of late. A lot of that has to do with our passers. When we're in system, we're a big high-efficient attacking team. We've been working on it steadily all year and it's finally starting to click."
On Jessica Wooten…"Jessica (Wooten) has been a steady player for us since she was a freshman. She's a true leader on this team and she takes so much of the pressure off the other players. I wouldn't expect anything different from her than what we say today. She stepped up in a big situation."
Junior Outside Hitter Jessica WootenOn offensive play…"We had great serve-receive. We've been iffy with that the whole season. We knew we had to focus on that. Getting Kayla (Armer) passes, we were able to run whomever so I don't think they knew who was hitting. Having the middles up was great and Kayla got the ball to everyone."
