ARLINGTON, Texas – The HBU volleyball team rallied before dropping a hard-fought five-set match to host UT Arlington, 3-2 (9-25, 18-25, 25-14, 26-24, 11-15), then fell in four sets to Samford, 3-1 (25-21, 25-16, 25-27, 19-25) to close out the UTA Invitational Saturday at College Park Center.
In the early match, the Huskies (8-7) dropped the first two sets, but stormed back to force a fifth set, before the Mavericks (5-9) fought them off in the deciding set.
Senior setter
Kayla Armer, who was named to the all-tournament team, had 49 assists, 11 digs and five errorless kills. Junior outside hitter
Bailey Banks posted 22 kills, 21 digs and four aces, while junior middle blocker
Blair Gillard had 13 kills and a pair of blocks. Senior outside hitter
Melissa Fuchs recorded nine kills and 10 digs, and senior right side
Ashlee Vann had nine kills and five digs. Junior libero
Hailey Erickson came up with 12 digs and was matched by junior defensive specialist
Hannah Lewis' career-high of 12.
Kaitlyn Granger led UTA with 17 kills, while Quiana Canete and Zhanellle Geathers each had 12 kills. Canete had a double-double with 16 digs and also had six blocks. Marisah Ingram blocked a match-high eight attempts and Jessica Nwabuko had five. Cassidy Wheeler recorded 29 assists and Claire Schwettmann had 10 and nine digs. Taylor Murata notched a match-high 21 digs.
UTA hit .226, while holding HBU to .105. The Huskies outdug the Mavericks, 77-70, but were outblocked, 15-2. HBU hit .314 (14-3-35) in the third set, then had 18 kills in the fourth set to come back from an 0-2 deficit, before the Mavericks hit .227 (7-2-22) in the fifth set.
In the closing match, Armer had a near triple-double with 40 assists, eight errorless kills and eight digs. Banks led HBU with 15 kills and added eight digs, while Fuchs recorded a double-double with 11 kills and 11 digs and Gillard had 11 kills and two blocks. Erickson led the Huskies defensively with 14 digs and junior outside hitter
Laura Fox had four blocks.
Erin Bognar hit .341 and recorded 18 kills for Samford (9-6), while Krista Boesing had 16 kills and eight digs. Erika Pifer dished out 52 assists and had five digs, while Gabbie Greenwald posted nine kills and four blocks. Kiahna Wicks chipped in with seven kills and five blocks and Grace Tiesman led the Bulldogs with nine digs.
Samford hit .344 for the match, while HBU hit .204. The Huskies outdug the Bulldogs, 49-47, but were outblocked, 10-6, and Samford recorded 11 aces to HBU's five.
The Huskies return to action and begin Southland Conference play on the road against New Orleans Thursday at 7 p.m., followed by Southeastern Louisiana Saturday at 1 p.m. in Hammond.
