HOUSTON, Texas – HCU claimed its first victory of the season, pushing past a pesky Prairie View A&M in straight sets 25-20, 25-20, 25-18 to open the Molly Howard-Gerwig Memorial Tournament in front of a raucous crowd at Sharp Gym on Thursday evening.

The Huskies got off to a fast start by scoring the first three points and continued to roll on their way to a 25-20 first-set victory. The Lady Panthers opened the second set with the first couple of points before HCU went on a 7-0 burst highlighted by back-to-back kills by Cassidy Drapela, forcing a PV timeout with the score 9-4.

After HCU extended the lead to 17-9, the Lady Panthers fought back, cutting the deficit to 17-14, leading to a timeout by the Huskies. HCU would regroup during that break, and finished things off  with kills from Sara Arroyo, Grace McLaughlin, and Lexie Temple to claim the a 25-20 second game win.  

In set three, the Huskies jumped ahead quickly 5-1 only to see PVAMU knot things up at five-apiece just moments later. The lead would go back and forth, with the Huskies getting three-straight points to go into the media timeout with a slim lead, 15-13. HCU would put things away with a 10-5 match-closing run which included three kills by Sara Arroyo.

HCU gave up the lead just three times during the duration of the match, earning its' 24th-straight win over Prairie View. Junior Audrey Pearce led the way with 11 kills and five blocks while sophomore Cassidy Drapela added 10 kills and four digs. Sophomore Grace McLaughlin narrowly missed out on a double-double, dishing out 29 assists with nine digs and also chipped in a career-high four blocks. Senior Kaley Feris paced the defensive effort with 10 digs while Jaleesa Caroccio added eight.

PVAMU was led by Kylee Owens with 12 kills and 11 digs while Leila Smalls added nine kills and eight digs. Leah Lawson dished out 30 assists and Jaqueline Nino had 16 digs for the Panthers, who fall to 2-2 overall.

The Huskies, now 1-3, will continue the Molly Howard-Gerwig Memorial Tournament on Friday with two matches, book-ending the day with matches against Pennsylvania at 10:00 a.m. and Arkansas State at 6:30 p.m.