HOUSTON – HBU closed out its home slate with a 3-0 (25-17, 25-22, 25-20) sweep of Abilene Christian in Southland Conference volleyball Tuesday night in Sharp Gym.
Junior middle blocker
Jada Allen hit .423 with a career-high 14 kills and also had five blocks and an ace for the Huskies (8-3 SLC). Senior outside hitter
Mikayla Vivens had 13 kills and nine digs, while redshirt freshman outside hitter
Reagan Leinen had 12 kills. Sophomore right side
Anna Gadway added six kills and 11 digs and junior middle blocker
Ebonie Ballesteros had five kills and four blocks. Sophomore setter
Ellie Wipf dished out 46 assists, had 12 digs and four blocks, while senior
Morgan Dewyer had an ace and four digs. Redshirt freshman libero
Kaley Feris led HBU defensively with 13 digs and freshman defensive specialist
Madeline McKinney came up with nine and had an ace.
Katelyn Mueller posted a double-double for ACU (6-5 SLC) with 12 kills and 11 digs. Braden Bossier had five kills, while Breanna Box and Lindsey Toney had four each. Madison Rohr had 14 assists and Sarah Nading had 13. Mackenzie Harris recorded a match-high 20 digs for the Wildcats.
HBU hit .280 for the match, while holding ACU to .111. The Huksies outdug the Wildcats, 63-52, outblocked them 9-3, and held a slight edge in aces, 4-3.
With the first set tied, 4-4, HBU got a kill by Allen and an ace by Dewyer to score seven of the next eight points and take an 11-5 lead. The Huskies led by four at 19-15, but reeled off six-straight points to get to set point. After the Wildcats fought off a couple points, Allen put away the 25-17 decision with a kill.
The Huskies scored five of the first six points in the second and led by at least three most of the way. After building an 18-12 advantage, the Wildcats rallied for four-straight points and seven of the next eight to tie the set, 19-19. A kill by Gadway and a block by Gadway and Allen regained a two-point lead for HBU, but a service error sided out for ACU. Allen and Leinen posted kills to get to set point before Emily Van Dyke kept the Wildcats alive. Leinen finished off the set with a kill for a 25-22 victory.
ACU took its first lead of the match in the third, scoring four-straight points for a 9-5 advantage. ACU led by as many as five at 16-11. From there, HBU ripped off a seven-point run, behind four kills from Vivens, to take an 18-16 lead. The Huskies held the lead for the rest of the set with Leinen getting back-to-back kills to close out the match for a 25-20 win.
The Huskies wrap up the regular season against Stephen F. Austin, which is currently tied for first in the league, Saturday at 3 p.m. at Johnson Coliseum in Nacogdoches, Texas. HBU has already a berth in next week's Southland Conference Tournament and can finish no lower than fifth.
