No. 6 Houston Baptist Sweeps No. 7 Sam Houston State
Southland Conference
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CONWAY, Ark. – No. 6 Houston Baptist swept No. 7 Sam Houston State (25-18, 25-19, 26-24) Saturday in the sixth match of the 2015 Southland Conference Tournament on the campus of Central Arkansas in Conway, Ark.
The Huskies jumped out to an early lead with several Bearkat service errors. The Bearcats tied the set 9-9 after kills from sophomore outside hitter Jordyn Vaughn and junior libero Michelle Griffith, but were never able to take the lead. The Huskies took the first set 25-18 after six different players combined for 10 block assists; sophomore middle blocker Blair Gillard led the Huskies with four.
Junior outside hitter Jessica Wooten took charge of the second set with a .500 hitting percentage, 10 kills and an assist. The Bearkats were unable to answer the tandem of Wooten and junior setter Kayla Armer as the Huskies finished the set 25-19.
Ready to answer, the Bearkats started the next set with a Vaughn kill and service ace by junior libero Claire Kilpatrick. The lead went back and forth as both teams traded multiple runs. With the score tied 12-12, the Huskies went on a 5-1 run. The Bearkats responded with their own attack to take the lead 21-20. With the game on the line, senior middle blocker Allison Doerpinghaus came through with a pair of kills to take the lead 25-24. Huskies would take the final set with a Bearkat service error.
Wooten and Doerpinghaus combined for 21 of the 36 team kills. Gillard totaled one block solo and six block assists. Vaughn led the Bearkats with 13 kills and two service aces.
The Huskies will advance to the Southland Volleyball Tournament Championship Sunday, Nov. 22 at 3:05 to take on No. 1 A&M-Corpus Christi.
The championship round will be an exclusive presentation of ESPN3, available via
WatchESPN.com and the WatchESPN app.
Houston Baptist Head Coach Trent Herman
On offensive play
Our offense has been really gelling as of late. A lot of that has to do with our passers. When we’re in system, we’re a big high-efficient attacking team. We’ve been working on in steadily all year and it’s finally starting to click.
On Jessica Wooten
Jessica (Wooten) has been a steady player for us since she was a freshman. She’s a true leader on this team and she takes so much of the pressure off the other players. I wouldn’t expect anything different from her than what we say today. She stepped up in a big situation.
Houston Baptist Junior Outside Hitter Jessica Wooten
On offensive play
“We had great serve-receive. We’ve been iffy with that the whole season. We knew we had to focus on that. Getting Kayla (Armer) passes, we were able to run whomever so I don’t think they knew who was hitting. Having the middles up was great and Kayla got the ball to everyone.”
Head Coach Brenda Gray
On Houston Baptist
Houston Baptist was the aggressor today just like last night against UCA. This is an odd game, how you can play so well one night and be off the next. They played better, they backed us up and they mixed up their offense a lot. When they have their blockers going they’re tough to beat. This tournament was a lot like our season full of ups and downs but it was great to be back in the semifinals.