LAKE CHARLES, La. - Trailing 8-6 in the fifth set, HBU blitzed McNeese by scoring nine of the last 10 points of the match to escape with a 3-2 (25-21, 26-28, 25-13, 27-29, 15-9) victory in Southland Conference volleyball Saturday afternoon at the Health & Human Performance Complex.
Junior outside hitter
Mikayla Vivens recorded the second 20-20 match of her career, only the fourth in HBU history, with 22 kills and 21 digs for the Huskies (11-10, 3-3 SLC). Sophomore
Ebonie Ballesteros posted the first-ever double-double by an HBU middle blocker since the Huskies joined the Southland in 2014 with 11 kills and 10 blocks. Junior right side
Ashtyn Richey registered 14 kills, nine digs and seven blocks, while sophomore outside hitter
Kelly Colwell double-doubled with 10 kills and 17 digs. Junior middle blocker
Megan Patillo added nine kills and four blocks. Junior setter
Morgan Dewyer dished out 55 assists to go along with five kills, nine digs and three aces. Senior libero
Hannah Lewis came up with 27 digs and senior defensive specialist
Camie Copeland had 18.
Allison Lippert led the Cowgirls (8-10, 1-5) with 13 kills, while Alexis Lambert had 11 kills and 18 digs. Keegan Nelms also had a double-double with 10 kills and 16 digs and Macee Krpek had 10 kills. Kendall Glueck and Ajani Hodges posted identical lines with six kills and six blocks. Caitlin Sharrock handed out 29 assists and Kendall Kilchrist had 22. Madison Fontenot led McNeese defensively with 27 digs.
The Huskies hit .236 for the match, while holding the Cowgirls to .167. HBU recorded more than 100 digs for the second-straight match with 106 and McNeese had 83. The Huskies outblocked the Cowgirls, 14.0-11.0, and each team had eight aces, but McNeese made five more service errors than HBU.
When McNeese took the 8-6 lead and the teams changed sides, HBU reeled off six-straight points, including three kills by Vivens, a kill by Richey and a block by Richey and Ballesteros to take an 12-8 lead. After the Cowgirls sided out, the Huskies scored the last three points of the match on a kill by Richey, a McNeese attack error and another block by Richey and Ballesteros.
The Huskies return to action when they travel to UIW Thursday, before returning home to host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Saturday.
