#23 Volleyball Advances to Sweet Sixteen

OMAHA, Neb. – The #23 University of Houston volleyball team's season will continue. The Cougars, who had just won a five-set thriller the day prior, kept their campaign alive with the team's seventh win in five set matches this season, besting Auburn on Saturday night at the D.J. Sokol Arena.

Houston (30-3, 19-1 The American) advances to the Regional Semifinals which will be played at Stanford University. The Cougars will face host Stanford, who is ranked at #5 in the AVCA poll and is the one-seed in Houston's region of the bracket.

The Cougars reached the 30-win threshold for the first time since the NCAA added volleyball in 1981. The team held Auburn to a .172 hitting percentage, improving to 24-0 this season when they hold their opponent to a sub-.200 efficiency.

Graduate Kennedy Warren led the Cougars with 17 kills in the match, her second consecutive match pacing the team in the category. Setters Annie Cooke and Morgan Janda combined for 49 assists, tallying 25 and 24, respectively. Cooke added four aces to her total, while Janda recorded her sixth double-double of the season with 15 digs.

Senior Abbie Jackson posted 14 kills and 13 digs, earning her 12^th double-double of the year. Senior Rachel Tullos went 11-for-16 with only one error, posting a .625 hitting percentage. Graduate Kortlyn Henderson tallied eight kills, hitting .412, and sophomore Kellen Morin earned 10 kills with a .471 percentage.

SET ONE
The teams traded points early, ending with a 5-5 tie after ten serves. Houston rattled off a short run following to take an 8-5 lead after Cooke tallied her first service aces of the match. Another 4-0 run later in the frame put the Cougars ahead 16-10, but Auburn rallied back to tie the match at 24-24 and used a 3-0 run to take the set, 27-25.

Warren paced the Cougars with five kills in the set, hitting .308 on 13 attempts. Georgiades tallied 10 digs, while Theut and Tullos both recorded two blocks.

SET TWO
Houston took all of the momentum early in the second set. After falling behind 2-0, the Cougars evened the score at 4-4 then rattled off an 8-0 run to surge to a 12-4 lead. A 4-0 run and a 5-1 run extended Houston's lead over Auburn even more, putting the Cougars ahead 21-7. The Tigers would attempt a comeback, but the lead proved to be insurmountable, and Houston evened the score at 1-1 with a 25-15 set win.

Tullos led Houston, going a perfect 5-for-5 in the frame, while Warren added another four to her total and Georgiades notched five digs. Houston hit .333 as a team while holding the Tigers to just a .045 efficiency in the set.

SET THREE
Auburn flipped the script in the third set. The Tigers jumped out to a 6-1 lead and never looked back. A 7-0 run later in the set extended the lead further and Auburn tallied a 25-12 set win to go up 2-1.

SET FOUR
The fourth set was neck-and-neck throughout. Tied at 3-3, neither team was able to take more than a two-point lead until Houston led 14-11. The three-point advantage held until the Cougars took a 23-20 lead, when a 3-1 Auburn run threatened to force additional play for the second time in the match. Warren shut that effort down, however, ending the set with a kill of an assist from Georgiades that gave Houston a 25-23 set win.

Warren again led the team in kills in the frame, tallying five to bring her total to 15 in the match. Janda also paced Houston with eight digs.

SET FIVE
Facing their second fifth set in as many days, Houston notched a 4-0 run to take a 7-4 lead that the team never relinquished. Leading 8-5 as the teams swapped sides, the Cougars cruised to a 6-2 run, setting up match point for Houston. Wasting no time, Jackson put the match away with a kill off an assist from Georgiades.

Jackson rattled off five kills in the fifth, while Georgiades had five digs and Theut and Tullos paired for a block.

UP NEXT
The Cougars will battle Stanford, who earned the one-seed in Houston's region of the bracket and is ranked at #5 in the AVCA Coaches Poll. The match will be played on Dec. 8. Match time and television information will be available soon.

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Kennedy Warren

Abbie Jackson

Rachel Tullos

Kellen Morin

Players Mentioned

Annie Cooke

Kortlyn Henderson

Abbie Jackson

Morgan Janda

Kellen Morin

Rachel Tullos

Kennedy Warren

Players Mentioned

Annie Cooke

Kortlyn Henderson

Abbie Jackson

Morgan Janda

Kellen Morin

Rachel Tullos

Kennedy Warren

Upcoming Events

Recent Results