The Cougar volleyball team split a pair of conference road matches this weekend after falling to Tulsa and sweeping Southern Methodist in Dallas.
The Cougars are now back with a win after their five-match winning streak was stopped on Sept. 27 at Rice.
UH head coach Bill Walton continues to get big efforts from the freshmen on his squad.
Freshman middle blocker Lucy Charuk had been one of Houston’s more valuable and consistent players this season, but a foot injury has kept her sidelined for the past two weeks.
It only makes sense that more freshmen would step up in her absence.
En route to sweeping SMU on Sunday (22-30, 23-30, 26-30), freshmen outside hitter Hannah Sullivan and defensive specialist Amanda Carson finished with match highs of 20 kills and 24 digs, respectively.
The win snapped a two-match losing streak for UH.
The Cougars (9-8, 4-2 C-USA) had to fight before putting away the Mustangs.
In the third game the teams traded points up until 10-10 when UH scored four unanswered to go up 10-14.
That was enough for the Cougars, as SMU (12-8, 2-4 C-USA) never got to within 3 the rest of the game.
Sullivan recorded nine of her kills in the last game.
Junior outside hitter Justine Farmer finished one dig shy of a double double registering 16 kills and nine digs.
Sophomore middle blocker Erin Rice added seven kills.
Leading SMU was Junior middle blocker Natalie Peters, who had a team high of 10 kills.
Mustang senior outside hitter Caitlin Rainbird finished with 13 digs and nine kills.
The Cougars were not as fortunate Friday night in Tulsa.
The Golden Hurricane remained perfect at home as they defeated UH (14-30, 24-30, 24-30).
Houston recorded a season-low of 34 kills.
After dropping the first two games, UH looked to win the third and extend play.
Farmer kept UH close with her six kills in the game, but Tulsa (16-5, 4-2 C-USA) and senior middle hitter Fabiola Nepomuceno were too much for the Cougars.
Nepomuceno finished with a match-high 17 kills making her one of three Tulsa players to record double-digit kills.
Sullivan once again played well for UH as she recorded a double-double with 14 kills and 10 digs.
The Cougars will now prepare for their next match at 7 p.m. Friday when Tulane (16-4, 6-1 C-USA) comes to the Athletics/ Alumni Center with wins in seven of its last eight matches.
This will be Houston’s first home match since Sept. 23. Admission to Friday’s match is free for all students with a UH ID.
