HOUSTON -- The University of the Incarnate Word volleyball team fought hard for five sets, but came up just short against Houston Baptist, 3-2, Saturday afternoon at Sharp Gym. UIW had a season-best 11 blocks and three different Cardinals finished with double-digit kills in the loss.
NOTABLES
- UIW set a new team high with 11 blocks.
- Senior outside hitter Maddie Slaughter played a major part in that, earning a career-high seven blocks.
- Sophomore libero Madelynn Miller set a new career high with 39 digs.
- Freshman setter Kendall Kilchrist finished with 40 assists. A new season-high, surpassing her previous best, 39 set at SLU (9/22).
- Senior outside hitter Autumn Lockley led the team with 17 kills
- Freshman outside hitter Bethany Clapp finished with 13 kills to extend her double-digit kill streak to nine consecutive matches.
- Sophomore outside hitter Julia Monday contributed 12 kills in the loss. It was her fifth match this season with 10+ kills.
HOW IT HAPPENED
SET 1 (25-21) | The Cardinals got the match started with a 3-0 run, courtesy of a pair of aces from
Kilchrist. The set tightened up soon after. The Huskies defense at the net made life difficult for the UIW attackers and allowed HBU to take a 21-19 advantage. But after a timeout from coach Dabbs, the Cardinals went on a 6-0 run, fueled by kills from
Monday and
Lockley and two straight aces from
Miller. UIW finished with four aces in the set.
Monday led the team with six kills and
Kilchrist contributed 12 assists to give UIW a 1-0 lead.
SET 2 (18-25) | The set was tied 10-10, before HBU went on an 11-3 run, taking a 21-13 set advantage. The Cardinals battled until the end but couldn't make up the deficit.
Clapp and
Lockley had three kills each to pace the offense.
Slaughter played a part in all three UIW blocks defensively.
SET 3 (25-27) | The Huskies went on a five-point run to give themselves a 10-7 lead, eventually growing it to as much as six (18-12). But UIW dug in and delivered an 8-2 scoring run to tie the set, 20-20. Both teams traded points, but it was HBU that earned the first set point.
Lockley responded with a kill to tie the match at 24-24, but on the third set point, the Huskies converted to take a 2-1 match lead.
SET 4 (25-19) | UIW responded in the fourth set, going on a 5-0 run to go up, 10-5. The Cardinals managed to ride their newly gained momentum throughout the rest of the set and secured a critical set win.
Kilchrist distributed the ball well throughout the set, getting 11 assists and setting up
Lockley to lead the team with four kills.
Slaughter and
Monday each added three as well.
Lockley and sophomore middle blocker
Imani Stewart combined for the team's ninth block of the match, a new season-high.
SET 5 (15-8) | HBU jumped out to an 8-2 advantage in the shortened fifth set. UIW responded with a 5-0 run of its own, thanks to a couple of kills from
Lockley, to cut into the lead. Ultimately, the last run of the match belonged to the Huskies to secure the match victory.
UP NEXT
The Cardinals host two matches next week, starting against SFA (Oct. 11, 7 p.m. CT) followed by a match with UCA (Oct. 13, noon CT) at the McDermott Center.
FOLLOW ALONG
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