SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – The University of Incarnate Word volleyball team dropped their second match of the season at the McDermott Center as Sam Houston State defeated the Cardinals 25-22, 25-21, 26-24. 
           
The first set of the match started out great for UIW freshman Autumn Lockley (Leander/Leander HS) as she had the first three kills of the match for UIW.  The set was very competitive and neither team could pull away from each other. The Cardinals (3-11, 1-4) tied the set at 19-19 after an attack error by Sam Houston State and took the lead after a kill by Angelique Vidaurri (San Antonio/Southwest HS) to make the score 21-20.  However, the Bearkats (10-9, 4-1) would score four straight points to give them a 24-21 advantage and would eventually win the set 25-22.
           
Angelique Vidaurri (San Antonio/Southwest HS) started the second set out with back-to-back kills to give the Cardinals an early 2-1 advantage.  Bryaunea Hall (Copperas Cove/Copperas Cove HS) also had back-to-back kills to tie the set at 5-5. The turning point came midway through the set when the Bearkats put together a five-point run to take a 20-12 lead.  After the big run, the Cardinals started a comeback scoring three straight points themselves, and after back-to-back attacking errors by the Bearkats, UIW found themselves down only three points at 24-21.  Unfortunately, the Cardinals were unable to complete the comeback and lost the set 25-21.
           
The third set was action packed and the closest set of the match.  Going down the stretch, it looked as if the Cardinals would hold on and send the match into a fourth set, but that was not the case.  After an attack error by the Bearkats gave UIW a 23-19 lead, Sam Houston State found a way to battle back and take the set, 26-24 to win the match 3-0 and hand the Cardinals their fourth conference loss of the season.
           
For the match, Hall led the Cardinals with nine kills and a hitting percentage of .300.  Sarea Alexander (San Antonio/MacArthur HS) also had a good performance with and a team high .429 attack percentage.  Taylor McClelland (Cypress/Cypress Ranch HS) and Kaitlyn Brooks (Sugar Land/Fort Bend Austin HS) directed the UIW attack with 16 and 15 assists, respectively.  The libero Claudia Hernandez (San Antonio/Antonian HS) had the most digs for the team with 11 on the night.  The team had 36 kills and a hitting percentage of .164.  Defensively, the Cardinals had 48 digs as well as 11 total blocks.
           
The Bearkats had 44 kills, a .159 attack and 59 digs.  Jordyn Vaughn led the team with 13 kills and 13 digs.  Michelle Griffith dished out 38 assists.

The Cardinals return to action on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the McDermott Center against Lamar who is 12-6 on the season.
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