HAMMOND, La. – HCU advanced to the finals of the Southland Conference Volleyball Championship after capturing a four set victory of the 5
th seed Northwestern State Lady Demons, 3-1 (25-21, 26-24, 18-25, 25-19), in the semifinal match. Houston Christian University (HCU), formerly Houston Baptist University (HBU), underwent a name change in September 2022.
HCU (23-9) was led by redshirt freshman outside hitter Shelby O'Neal recording a double-double with a career-high 22 kills, 11 digs and five blocks. Junior right side
Anna Gadway had 12 kills and seven digs. Sophomore outside hitter
Sara Arroyo added nine kills, four digs, and two blocks, while senior middle blocker
Jada Allen recorded nine kills and five blocks. Redshirt freshman setter
Grace McLaughlin also recorded a double-double, dishing out 51 assists with 13 digs. Senior libero
Kaley Feris led the Huskies defensively with 18 digs, while freshman defensive specialist Hazel Allen added 12 digs to the back line.
NSU (19-13) was led by Symone Wesley with a double-double of 12 kills and 10 digs. Reaghan Thompson added nine kills and six blocks for the Lady Demons. Piper Boydstun led the Lady Demons in assists with 18 and Amina Attra had 16. Ashlyn Svoboda led the back line with 32 digs, while Addison McDermott had 18.
NSU outhit HCU, .144-.128, but the Huskies had 14 more kills. Each team had 81 digs, the Lady Demons held the edge in blocks, 11-9, but the Huskies took the advantage in aces, 5-3.
HCU held a 9-7 lead in the first until a four-point run on two kills by Arroyo and one each by O'Neal and Pearce, stretched the advantage to six. The Huskies led by as many as eight at 19-11, until the Lady Demons made a late push to cut the deficit to four by the end of the set.
The Lady Demons broke a tie with a five-point run to take a 20-15 lead in the second. The Huskies responded by scoring five of the next six points to get back into one. NSU scored the next two to take a 23-20 lead, but HCU scored three-straight to knot the score at 23 apiece. A service error gave NSU a set point, but O'Neal tied it with a kill, the Lady Demons had an attacking error to give HCU the lead, then O'Neal put it away with another kill.
In the third, NSU took a 12-7 lead after a three-point spurt. HCU battled back within two at 18-16, but the Lady Demons took control of the set by scoring the next four for a six-point margin and won the set by seven.
After NSU scored the opening point in the fourth, HCU responded by ripping off the next seven behind three kills by O'Neal and an ace by Pearce. The Lady Demons got back into the set by scoring four-straight to cut the deficit to 11-8. After HCU went ahead 17-13, NSU scored the next four, all on Husky attack errors, to tie the frame at 17 each. The Huskies scored five of the next six to lead 22-18 until the Lady Demons sided out. HCU closed it out by scoring the last three with Arroyo and Pearce teaming up for a block to get to set point and Arroyo putting the punctuation mark on the victory with a kill.
The Huskies will face host and No. 2 seed Southeastern, which defeated No. 3 McNeese, 3-1, in the championship match Sunday at 2 p.m. on ESPN+. HCU will be making its second appearance in the final, dropping the 2015 title match to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
