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Buy Photos HereHOUSTON – Despite out-killing Central Arkansas 54-48, the HBU volleyball team fell 3-1 (21-25, 19-25, 25-22, 23-25) on Thursday night inside Sharp Gym.
Outside hitters
Jessica Wooten and
Bailey Banks paced the attack for the Huskies (15-14, 7-7 SLC), turning in 17 and 13 kills, respectfully. Banks' 13-kill effort was accompanied by 14 digs on the back row to mark her seventh double-double of the season.
Junior setter
Kayla Armer joined Banks with a double-double performance, amassing 36 assists and 11 digs against the Sugar Bears (15-10, 11-2 SLC), marking her 11th of the season. Armer also tied her career-best with six blocks, while junior libero
Melissa Fuchs captained HBU on the back row with 19 digs.
UCA came out strong in the first two sets, hitting .243 and .263 clips and holding the Huskies to .057 and .175 attack efficiencies to take a 2-0 lead into the break behind 25-21 and 25-19 set wins.
Both teams traded points all throughout the better part of the third set, until a Sugar Bear service error and kill from sophomore middle blocker
Blair Gillard gave HBU a 22-20 edge. Gillard found UCA's floor again with a strong swing three points later to keep the two-point advantage at 24-22, before Wooten sealed the set with a service ace.
The fourth set again proved to be a back-and-forth affair, as both teams traded the lead four times and pulled even on 11 other points. Down 21-19, the Huskies rallied with a kill from Armer and tandem block from Armer and senior middle blocker
Allison Doerpinghaus to tie the set, but three service errors and an attack error down the stretch closed the match in favor of the Sugar Bears.
The match marked the final home game for Doerpinghaus, as HBU finishes with a 10-3 record inside Sharp Gym.
The Huskies will close the regular season with a pair of road games next week, visiting Lamar on (Nov. 12) and Sam Houston State (Nov. 14).
Postgame Quotes – Head Coach Trent Herman
Overview of match…"It was an emotional match with it being senior night. We kind of got off to a little bit of a slow start, as we got our emotions in check, but it was a highly contested match. We just made a few too many errors along the way.
"I think the kids played hard tonight. We were ready to play. We just couldn't make enough plays in the end."
On senior Allison Doerpinghaus…"It was a blessing for Allison to transfer here. She has been such a model student-athlete for us. She a great kids who truly cares so much about not just her school work, which today she was named to the (College Sports Information Directors of America) All-District team, but also being involved in the community. She's had an indelible impact."
On closing the regular season next week…"First off, we get a much needed break by having this Saturday open. We just finished five matches in eight days. For us, we will take tomorrow, get a good practice in and then enjoy the weekend. Next week we have two big matches at Lamar and Sam Houston State, both of will be crucial for our seeding for the conference tournament.
