Houston Takes Season Series from Wichita State

Friday, November 9

Wichita, Kan.

7 p.m. CT

University of Houston

16-13, 3-11

Wichita State

12-13, 7-7

Houston

Wichita State

Photo by: Stephen Pinchback

11/9/2018 10:09:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

Cougars top Shockers in four sets

By: Ryan Levine

WICHITA, Kan. – The University of Houston Volleyball team opened its final road trip of the 2018 campaign with a 3-1 (25-19, 25-22, 22-25, 25-23) victory over Wichita State on Friday night.

The win marked the first conference road victory of the year for the Cougars (16-14, 3-11 AAC), as the Shockers (12-13, 7-6 AAC) suffered just their second home loss of the season.

HOUSTON 3, WICHITA STATE 1

HOW IT HAPPENED
Set 1
The Cougars came out to a blistering hot start, having hit .308 in the first set of the match. Houston's offense in the opening set was led by both junior outside hitter Megan Duncan and freshman outside hitter Alexis Cheatum, as the two combined to record 10 of the Cougars' 15 kills in the frame. After finding itself trailing 16-14, Houston came right back and scored five unanswered points to hold a 19-16 edge over Wichita State. That momentum then carried the Cougars all the way to their 25-19 set victory to take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Set 2
After the two teams began the second set trading blows, a block from freshman middle blocker Kendall Haywood tied the score at 11. The dramatics continued for the Cougars, as their tree-point deficit late in the set proved to be nothing for Houston. With its seven consecutive points scored, Houston stormed back to win the set 25-22 and took a 2-0 match advantage at the intermission. During the Cougars' seven-point run, Houston accounted for six of those points, with three kills from three different players, as well as a pair of blocks from Haywood.

Set 3
Coming out of the intermission, the Cougars struggled to gain any momentum as they found they found themselves trailing 7-3 early on. As two teams exchanged mini runs throughout the set, Wichita State stretched its lead to as many as five, but that never stopped Houston from fighting. A 6-1 run from the Cougars put Houston back within a score and eventually tied the game at 21. Unable to take the lead at any point in the set, Houston dropped the frame 25-22, as Wichita State forced a fourth set.

Set 4
Much like the first three sets, the fourth frame was a highly contested set with neither team able to gain more than a four-point edge on the other. After the Cougars trailed 11-7, Houston went on a monstrous 7-0 run to hold a three-point advantage at the 14-11 mark. Houston started to pull away midway through the set, but Wichita State never backed down and brought the score back to within a point at 19-18, forcing Houston to call a timeout. Once the Cougars regained the lead at 22-21, the Shockers came right back tie the score. Cemented by a kill from sophomore outside hitter Silvia Pertens, Houston went on to score three of the final five points of the frame to seal the 25-23 set victory and 3-1 match win.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

There were 30 ties and eight lead changes in the contest.
Houston is 10-0 on the year when leading 2-0 in a match.
Houston has won six of the last seven sets against Wichita State.
The Cougars are now 4-3 all-time against the Shockers.
Friday's match marked the 11^th time this season at least three Cougars recorded 10 or more digs in the same contest.
The Cougars had multiple players post double-doubles in the same match for the ninth time. At least one Houston player has recorded a double-double in 15 of the past 17 matches.
Junior outside hitter Megan Duncan tallied her team-high 11^th double-double of the season, finishing Friday night with a match-high 15 kills to go along with 16 digs.
Senior setter Katie Krebs finished the match with 15 assists and 10 digs, her sixth double-double of the season.
With her match-high 30 helpers, sophomore setter Abby Irvine recorded her sixth 30-assist match of the season.
Redshirt sophomore defensive specialist Kylie Napoleon dug out a season-high 10 balls.

UP NEXT
Houston competes in its final road match of the season against Tulsa on Sunday, Nov. 11. The Cougars will face the Golden Hurricane at 1 p.m. PT.

STAY CONNECTED
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JOIN POINT HOUSTON CLUB
Fans can help support the Houston Volleyball program by joining the Point HOUSTON Club. To find out more information about the Point HOUSTON Club, visit UHCougars.com or call Cougar Pride at (713) 743-GoUH.

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