HAMMOND, La. – After Southeastern Louisiana prevailed in a marathon second set, HBU rebounded to take the third, then rolled in the fourth for a 3-1 (25-22, 32-34, 25-22, 25-13) victory in Southland Conference volleyball Saturday morning at the University Center.
Sophomore outside hitter
Mikayla Vivens posted her league-leading 19
th double-double and reached at least 20 kills for the third-straight match with 20 kills and 12 digs for the Huskies (14-14, 7-7 SLC). Redshirt freshman outside hitter
Kelly Colwell had 15 kills and sophomore middle blocker
Megan Patillo had 12 kills and three blocks. Senior middle blocker
Kayla Davenport added seven kills and four blocks, while sophomore right side
Ashtyn Richey had six kills and six digs. Senior setter
Madison O'Brien had 51 assists, 13 digs and three kills, while junior libero
Hannah Lewis and freshman defensive specialist
Cici Collins each had 21 digs.
Elyssa Purcell led three Lions (2-24, 1-12) in double-digit kills with 15, while Jodi Edo had 11 and Caroline Golden recorded a double-double with 10 kills and 21 digs. Sam Gomez chipped in with five kills and seven blocks. Michelle Mirarchi had 24 assists and Haley Baker had 19. Lexie Torres came up with 27 digs for SLU.
The Huskies hit .235 for the match, while holding the Lions to .137. HBU outdug SLU, 89-71, and outaced them, 7-4, but were outblocked, 10-7.
HBU had a one-point lead in the first, until three-straight points made the score 17-13. Still trailing by four at 22-18, the Lions scored three in a row to get to within one. Richey got the side out with a kill, an attack error by the Lions got the Huskies to set point, then Colwell clinched it, 25-22, with a kill.
The Lions led by as many as six in the second and were up set point at 24-21 when the Huskies went on a four-point run to go up by one. The two sides went back-and-forth and were tied, 32-32, when SLU got a kill by Purcell and a block by Gomez for the 34-32 decision to even the match.
The Huskies shot out of the gate in the third, scoring the first six points of the set, which started with an ace by O'Brien and included a pair of kills by Vivens. HBU led 10-2, but SLU had a six-point flurry of its own to trim its deficit to two. The Huskies were still ahead, 12-11, but the Lions scored four in a row to move up by three. SLU held that margin until 20-17, but HBU scored the next four to reclaim a one-point lead. The Lions took the next two to go back up by one, but the Huskies scored the final four points of the set, including a pair of kills by Vivens for the 25-22 win.
HBU once again got off to a hot start by scoring the first five points in fourth, but this time was able to maintain the momentum. A three-point spurt extended the lead to eight. then a kill by Patillo and an ace by Collins put the Huskies ahead, 20-9. HBU scored the final three points of the set and a block by Vivens and Davenport put the match away, 25-13.
HBU will face Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in its final home match on Senior Night Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Sharp Gym.
