University of Houston Athletics
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After expending an overwhelming amount of energy and emotion to claim a dramatic come-from-behind victory in Friday's late match, the University of Houston volleyball team fell to No. 23 ranked Arkansas Saturday night in Hofheinz Pavilion by the score of three games to none. With a 15-8, 15-8, 15-12 defeat the Cougars fell to 21-10 on the season and now must wait almost a full 24 hours to see if it's invited to the NCAA's postseason dance.
Houston volleyball owns one of the nation's longest active streaks of earning consecutive NCAA Tournament bids, standing at eight-straight heading into Sunday night's announcement of the 64-team field. A win over the nationally-ranked Lady Razorbacks (29-6) almost certainly would have secured the program's ninth-straight bid, but even a loss this late in the year doesn't yet mean it's the end of the season for Houston. In what may prove to be a more telling match, the Cougars came from behind to beat Sun Belt Conference co-champion Arkansas-Little Rock three games to two the night before.
The fatigue of that match was evident Saturday as UH was able to hit only .062. It was the team's lowest percentage of the season and an even lower hitting total than when a then "new look" Cougar squad faced No. 1 ranked Stanford on opening day. Senior Jillian King led the Cougars with 13 kills and four blocks.
Arkansas' Yarleen Santiago posted 18 kills, a .441 hitting percentage, 15 defensive digs and six blocks. In an earlier match of the weekend's C-USA Challenge, Saint Louis defeated Arkansas-Little Rock three games to none.
Houston's fate for an NCAA Tournament bid will be announced on Sunday, November 28, at 9:00 p.m. local time.
Conference USA Challenge Volleyball Linescore Arkansas 15 15 15 Houston 8 8 12 Kill Leaders Jillian King (UH) 13; Yarleen Santiago (UA) 18; Records Houston (21-10); Arkansas (29-6) Conference USA Challenge Volleyball Linescore Saint Louis 16 15 15 Arkansas-Litle Rock 14 13 9 Kill Leaders Tanja Radovic (UALR) 16; Laura Risley (SLU) 18; Records Arkansas-Little Rock (19-13); Saint Louis (23-10)