LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana – Led by redshirt freshman right side
Ashtyn Richey, HBU hit .333 as a team in a sweep of McNeese, 3-0 (25-16, 25-19, 25-23), in the Huskies' Southland Conference opener Thursday night at Memorial Gym.
Richey hit .684 with 15 kills and only two errors on 19 swings, while senior outside hitter
Bailey Banks hit .423 with 14 kills and three errors on 26 attempts for the Huskies (9-4, 1-0 SLC). Freshman setter
Abby Gargus recorded 37 assists, three kills and four digs and senior middle blocker
Blair Gillard added six kills, four digs, three blocks and three aces. Senior outside hitter
Jessica Wooten chipped in with five kills and led HBU with 10 digs and junior middle blocker
Kayla Davenport had four kills and three blocks. Senior libero
Hailey Erickson came up with nine digs and served up an ace and sophomore defensive specialist
Hannah Lewis had four digs.
Katelyn Elliott led the Cowgirls (9-7, 1-1) with 10 kills off the bench and Jenny D'Alessandro had eight kills and two blocks. Angela McGownd led McNeese defensively with 16 digs. Alexandra Aguilera had 18 assists and Adison Giambrone recorded 15.
McNeese hit .226, but was outblocked by HBU, 6-2. The Huskies edged the Cowgirls in digs, 37-36, but served up five aces, while McNeese failed to get a serve past HBU.
The Huskies opened the match with an impressive offensive performance, hitting .433 with 15 kills and only two errors in the first set. HBU led by four, then scored three in a row on McNeese errors to take a 14-7 lead. The Huskies led 17-12, then scored six of the next seven points to extend the advantage to 10 at 23-13. Banks and Davenport teamed up on a block to close out the set, 25-16.
McNeese led, 6-4, early in the second, but HBU ripped off five-straight points on a pair of kills by Gillard and one by Banks. The Cowgirls tied the set, 13-13, but the Huskies scored the next four on back-to-back kills by Richey, an ace by Erickson and a block by Gillard and Wooten. McNeese fought back to within one at 20-19, but after an HBU timeout, the Huskies came out and scored the final five points of the set with two kills apiece from Banks and Richey to take a two-set lead into the break, 25-19.
The third set was a slugfest with HBU hitting .343 and McNeese hitting .320. Richey had three early kills, finishing with six for the set, to stake the Huskies to a 6-2 lead and they still led by four at 14-10 when the Cowgirls began chipping away at the lead. McNeese came on late and scored three in a row to take its first lead of the set at 21-20. HBU still trailed at 23-22, but a McNeese service error knotted the score. Gargus then served up an ace to get to set point and Banks put the finishing touch on the 25-23 victory with a kill.
The Huskies have two matches remaining on their road trip, facing Nicholls Saturday at 1 p.m., followed by Central Arkansas Monday at 7 p.m.
