HOUSTON, Texas – HCU will host the Molly Howard-Gerwig Memorial Tournament from Thursday, September 5th, through Saturday, September 7th, in Sharp Gym with matches against Howard at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, followed by Kansas City at 6:00 p.m. on Friday before concluding the event by taking on New Mexico at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday.
The Huskies (1-2) are coming off a performance at the Rice Invitational where they suffered five-set losses to Texas State and Rice, two teams picked to win their respective conferences, but finished strong with a straight-set victory against TSU. Senior Audrey Pierce led the team with 41 kills 11 blocks and 11 digs while hitting .493. Junior setter
Grace McLaughlin earned Southland Conference Setter of the Week honors after averaging 9.15 assists per set and senior
Tatiana Evans contributed a team-high 41 digs.
Howard (2-1) enters the tournament after competing in the DMV Invitational, where they earned victories against George Mason and Georgetown but fell to George Washington. Howard's offensive efforts are led by standout Rya McKinnon, who has accumulated 44 kills and 28 digs so far this season.
Kansas City (1-2) will arrive in Houston following their participation in the Utah Valley Invitational. The Roos lost their first two matches to CSU Bakersfield and Utah Valley but rebounded with a 3-1 victory over Eastern Washington. They are led by Kaia Dunfird, who has 35 kills and 29 digs to open the season.
New Mexico (2-1) comes to town after hosting the Lobo Invitational, securing wins over Tulane and North Dakota while falling to UC Irvine. The Lobos are paced by Kialah Jefferson, who leads the team with 31 kills and 29 digs.
The Huskies have faced all three of this weekend's opponents previously. HCU is 0-1 all-time against Howard with the only other meeting coming in Brooklyn, N.Y. during the 2008 season and the Bison earning a five-set win. The Huskies are 2-0 all-time against the Roos thanks to neutral site wins in both 2008 and 2012 while New Mexico defeated the Huskies on neutral courts in both 2014 and 2016.
After hosting this weekend's tournament, the Huskies will head to Edinburg, Texas for the UTRGV Tournament, where they are set to face San Francisco at 10:00 a.m. and Texas Tech at 4:00 p.m. next Friday, Sept. 13.
