HAMMOND, La. – HBU came back from a set down to even the match in the fourth, then rallied from five points down in the fifth, outscoring Southeastern 8-1 down the stretch, to escape with a 3-2 (26-24, 23-25, 14-25, 25-18, 15-13) victory in Southland Conference volleyball Saturday afternoon at University Center.
 
Senior middle blocker Ebonie Ballesteros led the Huskies (13-6, 4-1 SLC) with 12 kills and nine blocks, while junior right side Anna Gadway had 11 kills, 14 digs, five blocks, four assists and two aces. Freshman middle blocker Audrey Pearce and sophomore outside hitter Sara Arroyo each had nine kills and freshman outside hitter Alexia Jones had eight kills and a team-leading 17 digs. Senior middle blocker Jada Allen added seven kills and junior setter Ellie Wipf had 51 assists, 11 digs, four kills and four blocks. Sophomore libero Kaley Feris came up with 15 digs and freshman defensive specialist Tatiana Evans had 13.
 
Cicily Hidalgo led the Lions (4-12, 3-2) with 24 kills and had 12 digs, while Karlee Wilkerson had 17 kills and three blocks. Crispin Adams had seven kills and four blocks. Gracie Duplechain recorded 46 assists and 15 digs. Ansley Tullis led SLU with 19 digs, while Jolie Hidalgo and Calli Collins had 11.
 
SLU hit .185, while HBU hit .159, but the Huskies had six more kills. The Lions outdug the Huskies, 79-76, but were outblocked, 13-10. HBU registered six aces to SLU's three.
 
The first set was an offensive onslaught, with HBU hitting .298 with 19 kills and SLU hitting .368 with 16 kills. The Huskies shot out of the gate by scoring seven of the first eight points of the match, but the Lions rallied late to tie the set at 23-23. The two teams traded kills, before HBU got a kill from Allen and an ace by Gadway to eke out a 26-24 victory.
 
HBU led 18-15 in the second, but SLU came back to tie. The score remained tied at 20-20, but the Lions scored a pair, then held on for the 25-23 decision. The third was all Lions as they jumped out to a 12-2 lead. SLU ended the set on a five-point run to take a 25-14 win.
 
The Huskies got off the early in the fourth, scoring nine of the first 11 points. The Lions got back to within three, but the Huskies answered with three-straight to extend the lead back to 17-11. HBU scored the last three points of the set for a 25-18 victory to even the match at two sets apiece.
 
In the fifth, the two teams were even at 6-6, but SLU scored four in a row. After an ace by Addie Vidrine, the Lions led 12-7. HBU then ripped off a six-point run, with Ballesteros and Gadway teaming up on back-to-back blocks, a kill by Jones, then three-straight kills by Gadway for a 13-12 lead. SLU got a block to end the run and tie the set, but another kill by Gadway got HBU to set point and an attack error by the Lions ended the match.
 
The Huskies will be on the road next week as well, facing UIW Thursday in San Antonio, followed by defending league champion Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Saturday in Corpus Christi.