HOUSTON - HBU trailed 22-19 in the third set, but scored six of the last seven points, to finish off a sweep of Lamar, 3-0 (25-13, 25-20, 25-23), in Southland Conference volleyball Saturday morning in Sharp Gym.
Junior outside hitter
Mikayla Vivens led the Huskies (14-11, 6-4 SLC) with 13 kills and seven digs, while junior right side
Ashtyn Richey hit .647 with 11 kills, no errors, on 17 attempts, with five digs and three blocks. Sophomore outside hitter
Kelly Colwell added nine kills and 10 digs. Sophomore middle blocker
Ebonie Ballesteros and junior middle blocker
Megan Patillo each had seven kills and Ballesteros posted five blocks. Junior setter
Morgan Dewyer dished out 38 assits, with 12 digs and three kills. Senior libero
Hannah Lewis anchored HBU defensively with 15 digs.
Dannisha House had 11 kills and four blocks for Lamar (8-11, 3-7), while Malaysia Murdock had six kills. Annika Slovak recorded 28 assists and Erin Pequeno had 14 digs.
The Huskies hit .336 for the match, while holding the Cardinals to .092. HBU outdug Lamar, 55-46, and outblocked them, 7.0-4.0. The Cardinals had six aces to the Huskies' two.
Lamar scored the first point of the match on an ace, but HBU scored the next five behind a pair of kills by Vivens. Another five-point run extended the Huskies' lead to 16-8 and a four-point spurt made it 23-12. Back-to-back kills by Patillo and Vivens put away the first set, 25-13.
The Cardinals led 9-8 in the second, but a pair of blocks by Ballesteros and Richey bookended a five-point run to put the Huskies ahead, 13-9. Lamar got within a point at 17-16, but Vivens had a kill, Ballesteros and Richey teamed up for another block and a kill by Dewyer put HBU back up by four. Patillo put the exclamation point on a 25-20 set win.
Lamar led 22-19 late in the third, but Patillo got a kill and a block by Patillo and Dewyer cut the deficit to one. The Cardinals got a kill by Abilgale Nash to take a 23-21 lead. The Huskies answered by scoring the final four points of the match on a kill by Vivens, a Lamar attack error, a block by Ballesteros and Dewyer, then an ace by Patillo on match point.
The Huskies return to action when they face Abilene Christian Tuesday night in Abilene, before returning home to host conference-leading Stephen F. Austin Saturday at 1 p.m. in Sharp Gym.
