HOUSTON – HBU hit .248 to take home the win from Texas Southern, 3-1 (25-10, 25-16, 24-26, 25-18). Junior outside hitter
Melissa Fuchs had a major role in the victory as she pounded a career-high 19 kills, as well as producing five service aces and nine digs in the non-conference match up Tuesday at H&PE Arena.
Helping Fuchs offensively, senior middle blocker
Ashlee Vann and junior outside hitter
Bailey Banks each had eight kills to add to the team total of 51 for the Huskies (11-7). Senior setter
Kayla Armer tallied 33 assists and ten digs for the night. Junior libero
Hailey Erickson did a lot of the defensive work, recording the team high 18 digs.
Kalie Fluke led Texas Southern (8-7) with nine kills on the match, while Asia Howard tallied 14 assists. Defensively Allison Woods had the team-high of 13 digs.
The Huskies led the Tigers in key stats such as kills, 51-43; assists, 48-41; digs, 64-60; service aces, 12-0; and total blocks, 9-8.
In the opening set, the Huskies started early with rallies of three and seven to gain a lead of 10-2. HBU's strong defense didn't let Texas Southern get more than one point at a time as the Huskies dominated the first set, 25-10.
The second set was more of a battle from Texas Southern, but the Huskies prevailed taking the set 25-16. A service ace from junior defensive specialist
Rachel Angeles made the score 19-13, which forced Tigers head coach to take a time out to break the rally, but it wasn't enough to stop the Huskies as they took the set.
The Huskies were not able to recover after a slow start as they began the third set with a deficit of 4-0. The Tigers were able to add rallies of four, two, and six to make the score 20-9. A comeback fell short as the Huskies cut the deficit to two with an eight-point rally to bring the score to 23-21 and extended the set, but TSU pulled out a 26-24 decision.
Both teams were ready to play the fourth set, as the score was tied ten times and the lead changed hands eight times. TSU pulled away with the lead early, but the Huskies didn't let that last long as they took the lead for the final time at 13-12. In the final score of the match,
Melissa Fuchs broke her career-high in kills to finish the match, 25-18.
"I'm glad we got the win," head coach
Trent Herman said. "We played well the first two sets and had a letdown in set three. Texas Southern plays very hard and made some adjustments that we did not respond well to. We have a few days to get ready for Lamar coming in on Saturday to kick off our conference schedule at home. We are excited to be back home after the last three weeks on the road."
The Huskies go back to Southland Conference play Saturday as they host Lamar at 1 p.m. on Camper Appreciation Day in Sharp Gym.
