Photo GalleryHOUSTON – The HBU volleyball team used a collective effort to sweep UT Rio Grande Valley, 3-0 (25-18, 25-15, 25-20), on Saturday afternoon in Sharp Gym as part of the Marriott Houston Westchase Invitational.
Despite hitting .209 as a team, the Huskies (2-0) held UTRGV (1-1) to a -.044 attack percentage for the match to seal the sweep, marking the first time HBU has opened the season with two consecutive 3-0 victories since 2004.
Junior
Jessica Wooten tied a career-high with four service aces, as HBU collected 11 total for a second straight match. The native of Humble, Texas, also finished with nine kills, a team-high, and six digs.
Six of the seven Huskies who played in the match recorded four kills of more, as
Bailey Banks (6),
Blair Gillard (6)
Allison Doerpinghaus (5),
Kayla Armer (4) and
Ashlee Vann (4) landed attacks against the Vaqueros. Six HBU players also recorded three digs or more with Banks' season-high nine leading the way.
After Gillard claimed the opening point for the Huskies with a kill, Wooten fired off three consecutive aces to put the Huskies up 4-0. However, up 7-1, UTRGV edged back with a 4-1 spurt to pull within three at 8-5, before HBU reclaimed momentum, later taking the set 25-18.
The Huskies hit a match-high .296 clip in the second set and got four kills from Wooten in cruising to a 25-15 win and 2-0 advantage at the break.
Three kills each from Doerpinghaus, Gillard and Wooten helped HBU break a close third set to claim the match with a 25-20 triumph.
The Huskies will be back in action later this evening, hosting Louisiana Tech at 7 p.m. in the final match of the tournament.
Postgame Quotes – Head Coach Trent HermanOpening comments…"I thought it was really good for us. This early in the season, to have to come back and play in as quick a turnaround as we did, a coach's concern is making sure we are ready to play. It was very apparent with a 7-1 run to start the game that our kids were focused and ready to play."
On team's 11 service aces…"We made it one of our priorities entering the season to be a better serving team. We are still in the learning faze though, as we have some service errors we still need to eliminate. But, getting 11 aces is something we were very pleased with."
On team's performance…"We have been working to be more of a balanced offense and overall team. As we push through our non-conference schedule, we want to develop and become deeper to where we don't have a specific hitter that is singled out by the other team."
On coming back tonight against Louisiana Tech…"We had a goal coming in that we would win our own tournament and be undefeated at home. My message to them after today's win was to stay focused. It is nice to get off to the start that we have with two 3-0 wins, but Louisiana Tech is still able to win a share of the tournament if they beat us. The girls will take a little time off this afternoon to get some food and relax, before we get back at it."
