Houston outside hitter Alyssa Gonzales (1) and setter Kalei Edson (6) celebrate their win at the end of the third set against Lamar University, Tuesday, September 8, 2026 in Houston, Texas. | Gillian Wisniewski/The Cougar
Houston women’s volleyball rolled to their fourth sweep of the season, this time against the winless Lamar Cardinals, 3-0.
Junior outside hitter Sydney Jones led the Cougars with 11 kills and senior middle blocker Alexis Roberson owned the middle with a team-high .667 hit percentage and four blocks. Junior outside hitter Kamille Gibson also added eight kills to the tally.
Houston clinched the sweep with an 8-2 run over the final ten rallies in the last set. After a kill from sophomore middle blocker Tara Greenberry, the Cardinals committed three attack errors over the next five rallies. Sophomore libero Gillian Pitts served two aces at the end of the match before sophomore outside hitter Noemi Despaigne ended it with her seventh kill.
Houston faced a competitive start in each set before eventually pulling away. The first set saw Houston own a 17-14 lead before the Cougars cashed a six-point run to put it out of reach. The following set saw Houston down 9-6 before outscoring the Cardinals 19-8 the rest of the set.
Lamar managed just 25 kills as a team, mirroring the number of errors they committed. Junior middle blocker Nisaan Martinez led the team with 10 kills. Senior outside hitter Grace Hill was not far behind with nine kills. No one else on the team surpassed two kills after them.
Houston will travel to Nassau, Bahamas, for the Paradise Invitational from Sept. 12-13, facing No. 14 Purdue on the first day of competition at 10:30 a.m.
No. 3 Kentucky and No. 8 SMU will play each other that day as well, with the victors facing off in a championship match at 4 p.m. the next day and the losers will play each other in a consolation match at noon.
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