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.
Longhorn Legend Passes Away At 88
by Cheval John
Darrell K. Royal has been a person synonemous with the University of Texas Longhorns football for a long time.
Royal, who led the Longhorns to the National Championship in 1963, 1969 and 1970, passed away today at the age of 88.
He coached the Longhorns from 1957 to 1976. with a record of 167-47-5, the most in school history.
Under his guidance, they won 11 Southwest Conference titles, 10 Cotton Bowls and 3 national championships.
His record of 167-47-5 at Texas is the most in school history.
Prior to Texas, he coached at Mississippi State and the University of Washington.
“Today is a very sad day. I lost a wonderful friend, a mentor, a confidant and my hero. College football lost maybe its best ever and the world lost a great man,” current Texas coach Mack Brown said Wednesday to the Associated Press.
“His counsel and friendship meant a lot to me before I came to Texas, but it’s been my guiding light for my 15 years here.”
Royal was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983.
In 1996, UT-Austin renamed Memorial Stadium as the Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium to honor the man that turned the Longhorns into a national power.
The Longhorns will pay tribute to Royal on Saturday when they play host to Iowa State by wearing the DKR sticker on their jersey.
Bearkat Volleyball Takes Aim At Southland Conference Title
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
The Sam Houston volleyball team is two victories away from hoisting a Southland Conference regular season championship trophy for the first time since 1994.
The Bearkats play host to McNeese State Thursday at 7 p.m. and Lamar Saturday at 3 p.m.
If the SHSU volleyball teams win both those matches they can do no worse than be tied for the championship with Central Arkansas.
Both Sam Houston and UCA enter this weekend’s action tied for first place with identical 13-3 records.
Both play their final two games on their home floor.
Sam Houston’s foes, McNeese State (7-23, SLC 1-15) and Lamar (10-20, SLC 2-14 already have been eliminated from competition for any of the eight berths in the Southland post season tournament.
Central Arkansas faces third place Northwestern State (20-8, SLC 12-4) Thursday night and fourth place Stephen F. Austin (20-10, SLC 10-6).
UCA, Northwestern State and SFA are the three teams that were responsible for the Bearkats’ Southland losses this year.
The Bearkats have won 13 of their last 14 matches with an attack led by Deveney Wells-Gibson, Kendall Cleveland and Kaylee Hawkins.
Wells-Gibson was totaled 462 points this year with 406 kills 29 service aces and 49 total blocks.
Cleveland and Hawkins have added 368 and 263 points, respectively.
Sam Houston setter Tayler Gray was Southland Conference “Defensive Player of the Week” last week.
She has assisted on 1,088 or SHSU’s 1,328 kills this year and is leading the team with 3.61 digs per set.
Haley Neisler, Kim Black and libero Camille Alfaro also have been key performers for what has turned into Sam Houston’s most successful season in more than a decade.
The Bearkats won Southland titles in both 1993 and 1994 but have finished no higher than second in the Southland race (1996 and 2005) since.
Sam Houston has posted an 18-10 overall record this year.
Bearkats Volleyball’s 13-Game Win Streak Snapped By Demons
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
Natchitoches, La. – Sam Houston’s 13-match volleyball winning streak ended Tuesday night as Northwestern State shut out the Bearkats in three sets 25-21 25-21 25-22.
The Demons extended their winning streak to eight matches and produced only the second 20-victory season in Northwestern State volleyball history with the win.
The contest pitted Southland leader Sam Houston with third place Northwestern State.
Coming into the match the Kats held a half-match advantage over Central Arkansas in the stands.
SHSU drops to 18-10 for the year and 13-3 in Southland play.
The Demons now are 20-8 overall and 12-4 in league action.
Kendall Cleveland led both teams with 16 kills and Deveney Wells-Gibson added 14 as Sam Houston totaled 38 kills.
Setter Tayler Gray assisted on 33 of the kills.
Stacey Difrancesco led the Demons with 12 kills.
Perhaps her most important point came in the first set with the score tied 20-20.
Difrancesco put away a kill that started a 5-1 run for Northwestern State to win the first set.
The Demons jumped out to a 4-1 margin in the second frame and never trailed in a closely fought set.
Sam Houston held a brief 8-7 lead in the third set and were down only one at 20-19.
But Northwestern State closed out the match by winning five of the next eight points.
Sam Houston will complete the regular season with home matches Thursday at 7 p.m. against McNeese State and Saturday at 3 p.m. with Lamar.