HOUSTON – After gutting out a third-set decision, HBU rolled past UIW in the fourth to claim a 3-1 (25-23, 18-25, 26-24, 25-16) victory in Southland Conference volleyball Thursday night in Sharp Gym.
 
Senior middle blocker Jada Allen hit .344 with 14 kills and five blocks, while senior middle blocker Ebonie Ballesteros had 13 kills and nine blocks for the Huskies (15-7, 6-2 SLC). Sophomore outside hitter Sara Arroyo hit .500 with 11 kills and junior right side Anna Gadway had 11 kills, nine digs and four blocks. Senior outside hitter Mikayla Vivens chipped in with seven kills and 17 digs, while freshman Alexia Jones also had 17 digs and sophomore libero Kaley Feris had nine digs in only two sets. Junior setter Ellie Wipf dished out 48 assists with 10 digs, three kills and three blocks.
 
Bethany Clapp hit .340 and had 21 kills and seven digs for the Cardinals (8-14, 3-5). Allison Palmi had 11 kills and nine digs and Chase Jackson had eight kills. Jacqueline Arrington had five blocks and Natalie Martin handed out 25 assists with 14 digs. Macy Sumrall led UIW defensively with 20 digs.
 
HBU hit .252 for the match and UIW hit .200. The Huskies outdug the Cardinals, 72-58, and outblocked them, 14-8.
 
The first set was tied, 22-22, but Ballesteros got a kill and freshman defensive specialist Tatiana Evans served up an ace to get the Huskies to set point. Clapp had a kill to side out for UIW, but Allen put the set away with a kill for the 25-23 decision.
 
UIW hit .361 with 16 kills, six by Clapp, and only three errors in the second set. The Cardinals took a 4-3 lead on an ace by Sumrall and never trailed again. After going up by seven, HBU scored three in a row, but UIW regrouped after a timeout and went on to take the set, 25-18.
 
HBU trailed by four early in the third, but fought back to tie the set, 12-12. The Huskies took a two-point lead at 17-15 on a kill by Vivens and a kill off a dig by Jones, but it was short-lived as the Cardinals came back to tie at 21-21. HBU took another two-point lead at 23-21, but again UIW answered to tie. Tied at 24-24, an attack error and a kill by Allen gave HBU the 2-1 set advantage.
 
The Huskies quickly took the lead in the fourth at 11-4. The extended their advantage to 11 at 17-6 on a kill by Vivens. Back-to-back kills by Allen and Arroyo and an ace by junior defensive specialist Marlayna Stapleton got the Huskies to set point and after a service error sided out UIW, Ballesteros put the exclamation point on the 25-16 win.
 
HBU returns to action when it hosts conference-leading Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Saturday at 1 p.m. in Sharp Gym.