Houston’s Kate Georgiades, center, waits for A&M Commerce to serve the ball during the first set of an NCAA college women’s volleyball match, Thursday, Sept. 19, 2024 in Houston, Texas. | Oscar Herrera/ The Cougar
The Houston volleyball team opened up conference play by claiming its first Big 12 win with a clean sweep over Kansas State on Wednesday night inside Morgan Family Arena.
The Cougars earned its second consecutive straight-set victory behind double-doubles by Graduates Angela Grieve and Annie Cooke the feat will go down in the record books as head coach David Rehr’s 650th win, his 109th with Houston.
Starting strong, the Cougars won the opening frames’ first four points to take an early lead, but the Wildcats came back to tie it at 11-11.
Houston eventually went down 20-17 but clawed its way back to even the score at 23-23 before forcing extras to win 27-25.
The match was a game of back-and-forth for the Cougars and Wildcats, seeing 27 ties, 12 coming in the third frame and 15 lead changes.
The final frame was a close one, remaining tied after 11 points. Neither team went up by more than two before Houston put together a 4-1 run to take a 23-19 lead.
The Wildcats put up a tough fight to keep the game alive and nearly succeeded, but the Cougars ended all hope of a comeback and clinched the set 25-23.
Grieve led the team in kills with 14 and added 10 digs; she now leads the team in double-doubles with four.
Cooke put up 19 assists and 10 digs to help secure the win. Graduate libero Kate Georgiades continued outstanding play, keeping her streak of double-digit dig performances with a team-high of 12.
Up next, Houston will close out its first week of conference play with a face-off against No. 9 Kansas on Friday, Sept 27.
