University of Houston
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UTEP
Volleyball Loses to UTEP, 3-0
9/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Volleyball
Sept. 28, 2008
HOUSTON -- The University of Houston volleyball team was swept by UTEP, 3-0, Sunday afternoon in El Paso, Texas. The Cougars, who lost their second-straight match in Conference USA, lost with scores of 23-25, 22-25 and 17-25 to the Miners.
Houston (7-7, 0-2 C-USA) entered the weekend riding a four-match win streak but saw that streak snapped with Sunday's loss and a loss at Tulane on Friday. This is the first time since 2003 that UH opened conference play 0-2 and only the second time in conference history. In 2003, Houston would go on to finish the year 6-7 in conference play.
Junior Erin Rice paced the Cougars with eight kills and a .500 hitting percentage against the Miners. Senior Kelsey King added 23 assists and freshman Alik Cardoso de Sa recorded a career-high nine digs.
In the first set, Houston opened with a 10-7 lead, forcing the Miners to call a timeout. Out of the break, UTEP slowly chipped away at the lead, playing a close set until the end before pulling out the 25-23 lead.
Houston would tie the second set 19-19 before timeouts by both teams would halt play. UTEP called the first timeout with the score tied. An attack error out of the break by sophomore Lucy Charuk would force head coach Bill Walton to call his own timeout. Throughout the rest of the set Houston would be outscored 5-3 and UTEP would win 25-22.
For the fifth-straight match, it would come down to the third set for the Cougars but this time it would not work in Houston's favor. UH was able to tie the set twice but never hold a lead and UTEP would steal the win.
The Cougars are now 3-2 in the last five matches, which have all been decided in three sets.
Catherine Chavez finished with a game-high 14 kills to lead UTEP.
UP NEXT
Houston will return home to play host to Tulane and SMU on Oct. 3-4. Following the weekend series, the Cougars will welcome Texas State on Oct. 7 for a mid-week match-up.
