SAN ANTONO – HBU cruised through the first set, but dropped the next two and had to rally past UIW for a 3-2 (25-17, 22-25, 23-25, 25-22, 15-10) victory in Southland Conference volleyball Thursday night in McDermott Center.
 
Junior right side Anna Gadway tied her career high with 17 kills and notched a career-high 18 digs for her fifth double-double of the season, while adding three blocks and three assists for the Huskies (14-6, 5-1 SLC). Senior middle blocker Ebonie Ballesteros posted 11 kills and six blocks and sophomore outside hitter Sara Arroyo had eight kills and four blocks. Senior outside hitter Mikayla Vivens returned to the starting lineup for the first time this season and had seven kills and a team-high 22 digs in front of her hometown crowd. Freshman outside hitter Alexia Jones had six kills, 19 digs and a pair of aces and junior setter Ellie Wipf dished our 48 assists and had a career-high nine kills. Freshman libero Tatiana Evans had 21 digs and five assists.
 
Risa Sena had 16 kills and eight digs, while Allison Palmi had 15 kills, four digs and three blocks for the Cardinals (8-12, 3-3). Chase Jackson had nine kills and Annamarie Alvarez had six. Natalie Kimmel had 24 assists and Natalie Martin had 20 to go along with 14 digs. Macy Sumrall came up with 18 digs and had seven assists and two aces, while Audrey Patton had 11 digs.
 
HBU hit .256 for the match, while holding UIW to .164. The Huskies outdug the Cardinals, 84-70, and outblocked them, 12-8. Each team had five aces, but HBU had 11 service errors and UIW had eight.
 
The Huskies bolted out to an 11-4 lead in the first set, then a five-point run, highlighted by back-to-back blocks by Gadway and Ballesteros, later put them ahead 18-8. Junior defensive specialist Marlayna Stapleton served up an ace to get to set point, then Wipf put away the 25-17 win with a kill.
 
The second set was tied, 14-14, until UIW went on a four-point spurt. The Huskies quickly scored the next two and were within two six times down the stretch, but could get no closer as the Cardinals held on at 25-22 to even the match.
 
HBU led 16-13 in the third, but UIW answered with the next three to tie the set. The Huskies then led by two at 20-18, but three more points in a row put the Cardinals up a point. HBU pushed back ahead at 23-22 on a kill by Gadway, but UIW scored the last three points of the set on a kill and an ace by Sena and a kill by Palmi to escape with a 25-23 decision and a 2-1 set lead in the match.
 
The fourth set was also close throughout and UIW led, 17-14, until HBU scored four of the next five to tie the set at 18-18. The Cardinals led 21-20, but the Huskies scored four-straight on kills by Gadway, Wipf and Vivens and an attacking error by UIW to get to set point. A Gadway kill clinched the 25-22 win to force a fifth set.
 
UIW led 9-8 in the decisive set, but HBU got four-straight kills from four different Huskies – Ballesteros, Vivens, freshman middle blocker Audrey Pearce and Gadway to go up, 12-9. After the Cardinals finally sided out, the Huskies put the match away by scoring the last three points with back-to-back solo blocks by Pearce and an attacking error by the Cardinals on match point for the 15-10 victory.
 
The Huskies face defending league champion Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, who is unbeaten this season, Saturday in Corpus Christi.