HAMMOND, Louisiana – As HBU struggled to find a rhythm on offense early, junior middle blocker
Blair Gillard took over on both sides of the net with 17 kills and nine blocks as the Huskies pulled out a 3-2 (24-26, 25-18, 20-25, 25-13, 15-9) victory over Southeastern Louisiana in Southland Conference volleyball Saturday at University Center.
"To go 2-0 on the road to start off conference is a good achievement," HBU head coach
Trent Herman said. "It was a great team win and that's the great thing about this team is every match someone else steps up. Today it was Hailey (Erickson) on defense or Blair (Gillard) on offense. I can't be prouder of this team for how they keep fighting and how they keep finding ways to win."
Gillard hit .429, making only two errors on 35 attempts and added a pair of aces for HBU (10-7, 2-0 SLC). Junior
Bailey Banks recorded 14 kills and 12 digs for her 11
th double-double of the season, while senior outside hitter
Melissa Fuchs had nine kills and 18 digs. Senior setter
Kayla Armer dished out 42 assists, had 14 digs, two kills and three blocks, and junior libero
Hailey Erickson led the Huskies with a career-high 23 digs. Sophomore defensive specialist
Rachel Angeles also tallied double-digit digs with 16.
Elyssa Purcell posted a triple-double for the Lions (2-12, 1-1) with 10 kills, 25 assists and 17 digs. Chloee Holden led SLU with 16 kills and Madi Odom had a double-double with 10 kills and a match-high 25 digs. Monica Ramon had 22 digs and seven assists, while Haley Barker added 19 assists and six digs.
HBU hit .155 for the match, and SLU hit .125, but the Huskies hit .368, with only one error, in the decisive fifth set. The Lions outdug the Huskeis, 99-92, but HBU held a 13-9 advantage on blocks and 8-1 on service aces.
The Huskies return to action with a non-conference match at Texas Southern Tuesday at 6:30 p.m., before returning hosting Lamar in SLC play Saturday, Oct. 1 at 1 p.m.
