Sophomore outside hitter Sarah Afflerbaugh had a strong afternoon for the Cougars, as she notched 15 kills and 11 digs in the Cougars match against Utah State. | Bryce Dodds/The Cougar
The Cougars opened the regular season right with a pair of wins at the Texas Tech Fall Invitational in Lubbock.
Houston started the afternoon with a sweep of the University of Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin’ Cajuns (25-17, 25-21, 25-22).
Freshman outside hitter Brookah Palmer led the Cougars with 17 kills in the first match, to go with seven digs.
Junior middle blocker Hunter Wise also had a strong offensive outing for Houston, as she tallied up 10 kills.
As a team, the Cougars played strong defensively, holding the Cajuns to a .149 hitting percentage, and senior libero Olivia O’Dell had a career day along the back line with 19 digs.
In their second match of the day, the Cougars faced off against the Utah State Aggies.
Houston came out with a strong performance, as they downed Utah State in four sets (25-21,26-24,19-25,25-16).
Houston faced a bit more adversity in the second match as they found themselves trailing in both the first and second sets, but a couple of well-timed runs and errors by the opposition helped the Cougars turn things around on the way to their win.
Palmer was again a force on offense for the Cougars, as she recorded 20 kills and 11 digs for her first career double-double in her second match, and sophomore outside hitter Sarah Afflerbaugh recorded 15 kills and 11 digs, with a .382 hitting percentage.
The Cougars now sit at 2-0 and look forward to facing the host Texas Tech Red Raiders tomorrow at 11 a.m. in the finale of the invitational.
