UH volleyball’s seven-match win streak was snapped Sunday afternoon as the Cougars fell to SMU 3-1. | Esther Umoh/The Cougar
The Houston volleyball team saw its seven-game winning streak snapped when it fell to SMU 3-1 on the road (27-25, 25-17, 17-25, 23-25).
The first set was tight between both teams battling it out on both sides of the ball.
The Cougars had set point at 24-23, but a 3-0 run by the Mustangs earned a first set victory to lead the match.
The last stretch of momentum from the first set carried over to the second set for SMU, as it held UH to 10 kills and was explosive defensively in what was a one-sided set. The Cougars fought back into the set but the Mustangs proved to be too much as SMU went on to win the second set 25-17 to go up two sets to none.
An early run by the Mustangs to start the third set appeared to be the beginning of the end for the Cougars in the match.
The Cougars held on and kept the set competitive, closing in on small point deficits into the midway point of the third set.
After riding a 5-0 run to even the set at 16-16, the Cougars finished the third set with a dominant 9-1 scoring run for its best stretch of the match to win 25-17 and cut the set deficit to two sets to one.
UH carried the hot finish in the third set to start the fourth set and lead 13-6.
Short and quiet runs for the Mustangs pulled them closer to the Cougars and eventually took the lead near the end of the set at 23-22.
With two match points, SMU finished the job and won the set 25-23 to improve to 12-6 in the AAC, as the Cougars dropped to 14-4 in conference play but still remain second in the standings.
Both teams finished the match with close point-scoring percentages, as UH posted 41.8 percent while SMU recorded 44.1 percent.
Senior outside hitter Kennedy Warren shined bright for the Cougars as she led each set in kills and racked up a team-high 19 kills with 16 digs on the day.
Other game leaders included sophomore setter Annie Cooke with 42 assists while sophomore libero Kate Georgiades finished the match with 36 digs.
