HOUSTON - HBU thwarted Houston's offense to come away with a 3-1 (25-19, 25-21, 21-25, 25-22) victory in non-conference volleyball Tuesday night in Sharp Gym.
Junior outside hitter
Mikayla Vivens posted her third-straight double-double and fifth of the season with 15 kills and 21 digs for the Huskies (6-6). Sophomore outside hitter
Kelly Colwell added seven kills and 14 digs and junior middle blocker
Megan Patillo had seven kills, five digs and three blocks. Freshman right side
Anna Gadway chipped in with five kills and five blocks and sophomore middle blocker
Ebonie Ballesteros had four kills and six blocks. Junior setter
Morgan Dewyer totaled 34 assists, five kills, eight digs and five aces. Senior libero
Hannah Lewis came up with 18 digs and senior defensive specialist
Camie Copeland had 16.
Abbie Jackson had nine kills, 13 digs and three blocks and Megan Duncan also had nine kills with 10 digs and four aces for the Cougars (5-7). Rachel Tullos recorded seven kills and seven blocks and Isabel Theut also had seven kills. Abby Irvine handed out 36 assists, had 11 digs and three blocks. Katie Karbo led UH defensively with 31 digs.
The Huskies hit .136, while holding the Cougars to a .070 attack percentage. HBU outdug UH, 88-83, and outblocked them, 9.0-8.0, but the Cougars had eight aces to the Huskies' seven.
The Huskies held a five-point lead in the first, but a solo block by Tullos sparked a four-point run to close the Cougars within one at 19-18. HBU sided out on a kill by Gadway, then scored four more, which included an ace by Lewis, to get to set point. After a UH side out, Patillo and Colwell teamed up for a block to take the set, 25-19.
HBU trailed 9-5 in the second, but reeled off five of the next six points to knot the score at 10-10. After a UH sideout, HBU scored the next three on a kill by Colwell and back-to-back kills by Vivens to take a two-point lead. The set was tied at 15-15, but back-to-back aces by Dewyer and a block by Ballesteros and Gadway pushed the advantage back to three. The Huskies extended the lead to four, but the Cougars answered with three in a row to close within 22-21. HBU would score the last three, getting kills by Colwell and Vivens to close out the set, 25-21.
UH stormed out of the break, scoring the first five points of the third set. HBU fought back to make the score 10-9, but UH quickly answered to take a 15-10 lead. The Huskies continued to trail by five, but scored four straight to cut the deficit to one. HBU could not get over the hump to tie the set and UH scored the last three points to stay alive with a 25-21 decision.
Neither side led by more than two points for most of the first set and UH led, 19-18, when HBU put together a four-point rally for a 22-19 lead. An ace by Duncan got the Cougars back to within one at 22-21, but Colwell responded with a kill. Patillo got the Huskies to set point with a kill, but the Cougars stayed in the match with a kill by Tullos. Jackson's attack error on match point gave the Huskies a 25-22 win.
HBU returns to action facing Washington State, Texas Southern and host UT Rio Grande Valley in the UTRGV Tournament Friday and Saturday in Edinburg.
