Following the commencement of their season with a split in a doubleheader against Rice, the Houston volleyball team returned to the Athletics Alumni Center as they faced off against Stephen F. Austin in a double-header on Thursday.
With excitement in the air and adrenaline pumping, the players on both sides impatiently anticipated for the first serve and for the matches to begin. After the Lumberjacks made the first serve, the double-header was underway and unfolded as follows:
Match 1
In the first match of the day, at the end of the first half, it seemed as if it was going to be a nail biter as UH volleyball and Stephen F. Austin found themselves winning a set each. However, the Cougars had other ideas as they won the next two sets and, in the process, won the match with a final score of 3-1.
In the contest, sophomore outside hitter Abbie Jackson posted a team-high 20 kills alongside sophomore outside hitter Celeste Darling with 12 kills. Junior outside hitter Kortlyn Henderson had 11 kills, and the middle blockers, junior Isabelle Theut and sophomore Rachel Tullos had 10 kills each.
In addition, the freshman setter Annie Cook delivered 58 assists. Then, on the defensive side of things, junior libero Torie Frederick led the effort with 27 digs, followed by Jackson with 15 digs, and freshman defensive specialist and libero Sarah Martinez.
Match 2
Following their win, a short while earlier, UH entered the second match of the day with some momentum.
The Cougars went on to win against the Lumberjacks in a dominating 3-0 set sweep with scoring that consisted of 25-16 in the first set and 25-14 in the second and third sets.
In this match, there were not any outliers in terms of the number of kills that a player got, instead, the kill count was spread out amongst the team as Jackson and Henderson tied for the team-high of eight kills, followed by Cooke and Darling with six kills each, Theut with five kills and Tullos racked up four.
In addition to Cooke continuing to prosper as a facilitator in which she dished out 28 assists, UH’s defensive efforts were led by Martinez with 16 digs and Frederick with 10 digs.
After having good performances in back-to-back matches against Stephen F. Austin, the UH volleyball team will want to do more of the same next Thursday when it faces off Prairie View A&M at the Athletics Alumni Center.