HOUSTON, TX- HBU drops a five set battle against conference foe Sam Houston State Saturday afternoon at Sharp Gym. Sam Houston State improves to 11-1 in Southland Conference play and 19-5 overall. The Huskies fall to 5-7 in Southland Conference play and 12-14 overall.

Sophomore outside hitter Mikayla Vivens recorded another double-double, leading the Huskies in kills with 20, adding 16 digs, and four block assists. Senior setter Madison O'Brien led the game with 47 assists adding 6 kills, 15 digs, and three service aces. Junior Libero Hannah Lewis led HBU with 27 digs followed by junior and freshman defensive specialist Cammie Copeland and Cici Collins who added eighteen and twenty digs respectively. Freshman outside hitter Catherine Drapela added a career-high 14 kills and sophomore outside hitter Megan Patillo added 9 kills and 4 blocks.

Taylor Cunningham hit .273, and had 18 kills and 15 digs for the Bearkats. Ashley Lewis added 14 kills and 5 digs and 3 blocks and Caroline Sheaff added 10 kills and 5 digs. Jaclyn Ward posted 40 assists with eleven digs and Madison Wallace led the game with 37 digs.
The Huskies hit .170, while the Bearkats hit .152. HBU edged SHSU in digs, 113-97, but SHSU outblocked the Huskies, 13-8. HBU served 5 service aces, while SHSU served 5 aces as well.

The first half of the first set was led by the Bearkats until the Huskies mounted a comeback scoring 6 straight points to take the lead 12-10 forcing a Sam Houston State timeout. The rest of the set was back and forth until HBU took control rolling off 5 straight points to close out the first set by a score of 25-19.
The Huskies jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead that eventually stretched out to a 7-2 lead. The Huskies and Bearkats traded points until the score read 16-14 HBU leading. That is where the Bearkats ripped 5 straight points to take a 19-16 lead. HBU battled back to take a 22-21 lead, but Sam Houston State eventually outlasted the Huskies to a score of 25-23 after a kill by Cunningham.

Set three was filled with swings from both teams as no team could maintain a lead for long. In the set there were 15 tied scores and 7 lead changes. Sam Houston State led by a score of 24-22 threatening to take the set, but the Huskies did not go down without a fight taking a 26-25 lead after some long fought rallies. The Bearkats outlasted the Huskies posting 3 straight points to take set 3 by a score of 28-26.
Set for saw neither team get a substantial lead until HBU scored 2 kills sandwhiched around an attack error by SHSU to bring the score to 16-12. HBU would then stretch this lead to 20-13 behind 3 errors on the side of Sam Houston State. Teams would trade points back and forth, but HBU had control and finished the set on a Catherine Drapela kill bringing the score to 25-17.

Set 5 was dominated by Sam Houston State as HBU was never able to find their groove. Sam Houston State got out to a 10-3 lead that drew two timeouts from HBU. The Huskies made an effort at a comeback getting the score to 12-7 with the Bearkats leading, but Sam Houston State eventually took the set by a score of 15-8 on a kill from Taylor Cunningham.

The Huskies return to action this Thursday Nov. 1 at Northwestern State game-time start at 6:30 p.m.