Bearkat Volleyball On Fire With Eighth Straight Win
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
Beaumont – A point away from being two sets to none down, the Sam Houston volleyball team rallied to chalk up its eighth consecutive victory in four sets at Lamar Saturday afternoon.
Sophomore outside hitter Deveney Wells-Gibson posted a career best 27 kills to lead the Bearkats in a 22-25 28-26 25-13 25-21 win over the Cardinals.
Perhaps the biggest point of the match for Wells-Gibson was a kill with Lamar serving for the second set at 26-25.
Kim Black picked up the kill on the next point and Wells-Gibson served an ace to win the set 28-26 and even the match at a set apiece.
From that point on, Sam Houston won 50 of the next 84 points to up its season record to 13-9 and stand 8-2 in Southland Conference action.
Lamar dropped to 9-14 for the year and 1-8 in league play.
Kendall Cleveland and Kaylee Hawkins also produced double figure kills with totals of 11 and 10, respectively.
Wells-Gibson made only seven hitting errors in her 54 attempts Saturday.
Tayler Gray assisted of 46 kills and teamed with Cleveland to lead the Bearkat defense with 12 digs apiece.
Black added five blocks on the front row for Sam Houston.
Sam Houston returns to Johnson Coliseum to play host to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Thursday at 7 p.m.
The Islanders and the Bearkats enters Thursday’s action tied for second place in league standings while Central Arkansas is currently in first place.
SHSU Volleyball Dismantles Cowgirls To Extend Win Streak
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
Lake Charles, La. – Led by Deveney Wells-Gibson and Kendall Cleveland who both totaled double figure kills, Sam Houston State rolled to its sixth consecutive victory with a three-set Southland Conference volleyball win over McNeese State Thursday night.
The Bearkats, now 12-9 for the season and 7-2 in league play, defeated McNeese 25-20 25-19 25-23.
The Cowgirls dropped to 6-15 for the year and 1-7 in the Southland.
The match took an hour and 24 minutes.
Five of Sam Houston’s six straight wins have been three-setters as the Kats have won 18 of the last 19 sets they have played since the streak began.
Wells-Gibson produced 18 kills while Cleveland totaled 13. Kaylee Hawkins added seven kills.
Setter Tayler Gray assisted on 45 of Sam Houston’s 47 kills and led the Bearkat defense with 10 digs. Cleveland and Wells-Gibson added eight digs apiece for same Houston.
Both the first and second sets saw three early lead changes before the Bearkats took control.
There were six lead changes in the third and final set.
Sam Houston will complete this weekend’s Southland road trip with a Saturday afternoon match against the Lamar Cardinals in Beaumont.
Final Results From The Second Day Of SHSU’s Golf Tournament
Courtesy: Paul Ridings,Jr., SHSU Sports Information
Huntsville – Sam Houston’s Micah Hill, Logan Boatner and Justin McKay finished first, second and third in the individual standings as the Bearkat men won the team title at the SHSU Harold Funston Intercollegiate men’s tournament Monday and Tuesday by 40 strokes.
Saint Edward’s won the women’s title with Texas A&M finishing as runner-up and Sam Houston third.
Both events were played at Raven Nest Golf Club. The men’s tournament was played on a par 71 6,943-yard layout while the women’s course measured 6,067.
Hill (67-68-68—203), Boatner (71-69-70—210) and McKay (73-71-67—211) dominated the individual medalist competition. Other SHSU’s finishes included fifth place by J. T. Taylor (72-72-71—215) and Albert Miner eighth (71-72-74—217).
North Dakota State (877) was the team runner-up followed by Tyler Junior College (897), Texas-Pan American (903), Jacksonville CC (914) and Texas Southern (984).
Wallis Spears (68-71-79—218) placed second and Jessica Tamen (71-75-73—219) was third as they led Saint Edward’s to the team tile with a 290-297-297—884 total.
Vanessa Johnson of TAMUCC (69-72-73—219) won the women’s individual medalist championship. A&M-Corpus Christi finished five strokes back with an 889.
Sam Houston was third at 892 followed by Lamar 898, Houston Baptist 915, Western Texas CC 942, Tyler JC 947, Alabama State 956, Texas-Pan American 977, New Orleans 1104 and Jacksonville CC 1163.
Nicole Budnik (71-73-77—221) was Sam Houston’s top individual finisher with an eighth place finish. Shelby Hardy was eighth (75-72-75—222), Meghan Musk (75-75-76—226) and Jessica Borth (76-78-72—226) 15th and Jenna Stene 24th (79-75-79—233).