Bearkat Volleyball Team Defeats Cowgirls In Straight Sets

by Cheval John

The Sam Houston State Bearkat volleyball team were not phased after their 13-game win streak was snapped by Northwestern State Demons.

Instead, they played as a unit and in the process defeated the McNeese State Cowgirls in straight sets 25-15, 25-11, 25-19.

“Our mentality coming in was to play every team like it’s the same team no matter who they are or where they’re ranked,” outside hitter Devene Wells-Gibson said.

“We watched film on them, we critique them to know their tendencies and we came out thinking like it was the first game we ever played.”

Wells-Gibson led the charge for the Kats as she totaled 16 kills, 7 digs and a block.

The Kats (14-3 Southland Conference play, 19-10 overall) came out on fire in the first set as they scored the first seven out of ten points in the first set to take a 7-3 lead.

After a service error that cut the lead to 7-4, SHSU exploded for six straight points on a pair of kills by outside hitter Kendall Cleveland and four Cowgirls errors to increase their lead to 13-4.

They went on to win the first set 25-15.

The Bearkats continued their dominance as they opened the second set scoring the first six out of eight points to lead it 6-2 and went on to win it 25-11.

The third set was different as both teams fought tooth and nail for every point.

The Cowgirls (1-16 Southland Conference play, 7-24 overall) led 7-5 before the Bearkats scored five straight points to take a 10-7 lead courtesy of four Cowgirls errors and a service ace by libero Camille Alfaro.

McNeese State didn’t let up as they scored seven of nine points to regain the lead at 14-12.

Cleveland’s two straight kills tied it up at 14 and Rachel Cagnina’s kill helped the Cowgirls regain a 15-14 lead.

But the Bearkats responded with four straight points of their own to take an 18-15 lead on a Cowgirl error, a kill by Wells-Gibson, a service ace by Kaylee Hawkins and a Cleveland/Haley Neisler block.

They never looked back as they scored the next eight out of twelve points to sealed the game.

Cleveland finished the game with 10 kills while Hawkins totaled 9 kills, 12 digs and two assists.

Setter Tayler Gray had 40 assists, 6 digs, 2 aces and a block.

Cagnina led the Cowgirls with 6 kills.

The win kept the Bearkats tied with Central Arkansas in the SLC .

With one more game to go against Lamar on Saturday, they are determined to finish on a high note and claim a share of the SLC title.

For head coach Brenda Gray, she is just taking it one game at a time.

“What we have to do is take care of our business here. … We can’t get caught up in that” Gray said.