The Cougars came away winless on the road this weekend after falling to Memphis in four games Sunday and Alabama-Birmingham in five Friday.
Houston (11-10, 6-4 Conference USA) is now 2-4 on the road in conference play.
Junior outside hitter Justine Farmer recorded a double-double with 18 kills and 13 digs, but it was not enough as the Cougars fell to the Tigers (27-30, 23-30, 30-25 and 26-30).
Freshman outside hitter Hannah Sullivan was the only other Cougar to have double-digit kills with 13 while junior middle blocker Barbara Freitas had a career-high with nine.
Losing the first two games proved to be too much of a deficit for UH to overcome.
Farmer and Sullivan did their best to keep their team alive as each player notched half of their total kills in game three.
In the fourth game Houston would get as close as 23-24 before Memphis (18-8, 7-3 C-USA) scored four of the match’s next five points to go up 24-28. Memphis went on to win 26-30 and take the match.
Junior outsider hitter Sara Bury and senior outside hitter Ashley Liford led the Tigers with 19 kills and 14 kills, respectively. Bury also recorded 12 digs while Liford chipped in with 10.
Friday night the Cougars were in Birmingham, Ala., to take on UAB (17-7, 7-3 C-USA).
The Blazers were just able to hold off Houston in a five game thriller (30-23, 26-30, 34-32, 22-30 and 12-15) to push its win streak at Bartow Arena to 11 matches.
It was the sixth time this season that UH had gone the distance against an opponent and only the second time they have failed to win.
The loss also ended a three-match win streak the Cougars started Oct. 7 at Southern Methodist.
Junior outside hitter Ivana Bozic led a well-balanced UAB attack with team-highs of 25 digs and 24 kills. Bozic recorded her first 20-20 match of the season.
A win looked promising for UH during game five after taking an 8-5 advantage. UAB had no plans of going quietly as they scored the game’s next six points.
The Cougars never recovered from the run and went on to lose 12-15.
Farmer had a match-high 34 kills to go along with 11 digs and junior setter Kelsey King contributed with 36 assists and 12 digs.
The Cougars will return to prepare for a pair of home matches against East Carolina and Marshall this weekend.
