Bearkat Volleyball Player, Coach Earns SLC’s Top Honors
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
Deveney Wells-Gibson is the 2012 Southland Conference volleyball “Player of the Year,” Brenda Gray received league “Coach of the Year” honors and five Bearkats have been voted as All-Conference performers after leading Sam Houston to its first regular season volleyball championship since 1994.
Wells-Gibson was the top-scorer with 496 points for a Bearkat volleyball team that rolled to a 20-10 overall regular season mark and posted its highest Southland victory total ever with a 15-3 league mark.
The sophomore from San Antonio ranked No. 2 in kills (421) in the Southland and also was No. 10 in digs (339) and No. 12 in aces (34). She totaled double figure kills in 26 of the Bearkats’ 30 matches and was a two-time Southland Conference offensive player of the week selection.
Wells-Gibson is the first Bearkats to claim the honor since Julie Franzen won after SHSU’s 1993 conference championship season.
Gray, one of only 29 active head coaches in NCAA Division I women’s volleyball to post more than 500 career victories, to a season of 20 or more victories for the 12th time in her coaching career.
The 2012 Sam Houston team rolled up 13 consecutive victories at one point during the march to the conference title.
The 13-match winning streak is the longest since SHSU moved up to the Division I level in 1986.
In her 29th year of coaching this year’s honor marks her third “Coach of the Year” award in the Southland Conference.
After starting the season 3-7, the Bearkats went 17-3 the rest of the season including 12 three-set sweeps.
Her 595 career wins ranked third all-time among Southland Conference volleyball coaches.
Kendall Cleveland joined Wells-Gibson as a first team All-Southland Conference selection.
The senior from Houston totaled 389 points with 350 kills (3.53 per set) eight aces and 56 total blocks.
Tayler Gray and Kim Black, both Huntsville High School products, were second team selections.
As the Bearkats’ setter, Gray assisted on 1,162 of Sam Houston’s 1,413 kills this year and lead the squad with 383 digs.
Black was a force in the middle for the Bearkats, leading the Southland Conference in total blocks (140).
She stands No. 2 at Sam Houston in career blocks.
Kaylee Hawkins received honorable mention.
This marks the third time that she has made the All-Southland team (2009 first team, 2010 honorable mention).
The senior from Dickson is currently No. 3 in career digs (1,597).
Sam Houston is the No. 2 seed in the Southland Conference post-season tournament this weekend in Conway, Arkansas.
The Bearkats open play Friday at 11 a.m. against No. 7 seed Nicholls State.
The tournament semifinals will be played Saturday with the finals at 2 p.m. Sunday afternoon.
Bearkat Volleyball Rolled Through UCA In Four Sets
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
Conway, Ark – Kaylee Hawkins totaled 18 kills as Sam Houston State came from a set down to defeat Central Arkansas 27-29, 25-18, 25-14, 25-19 in a battle for first place in the Southland Conference volleyball race.
The victory extended Sam Houston’s winning streak to 11 matches, the Bearkats’ longest since the program moved up to the NCAA Division I level.
With an 11-2 record, the Kats take a half game lead over Central Arkansas in the 2012 title race.
The Bears dropped to 11-3 in league play.
Sam Houston owns a 16-9 season record while UCA is 23-4 for the year.
Two other Bearkats totaled double figure kills as Kendall Cleveland posted 14 and Deveney Wells-Gibson had 10.
UCA overcame a 14-0 Bearkat lead to take the first set.
But, even after a demanding five-set victory over Oral Roberts Thursday night, the Bearkats charged back to win the next three sets.
“Friday morning, I don’t think we had anything left in the tank after the five-setter at ORU,” head coach Brenda Gray said. “But the girls are hitting on all cylinders now. This was a great team effort and a big win.”
Tayler Gray assisted of 45 of SHSU’s 55 kills.
Haley Neisler totaled seven blocks and Hawkins and Kim Black each had five apiece.
Bearkat Volleyball Team Set For 2012 Season
by Cheval John
The Sam Houston State Bearkat volleyball team is set to make a run towards post-season play starting tomorrow when they will host the Sam Houston Volleyball Invitational at Bernard Johnson Coliseum.
Along with the Bearkats, the teams that will participate in the tournament are the University of Colorado, Texas Southern University and the University of Louisiana-Lafayette.
Head coach Brenda Gray returns for her 29th season at the helm.
She is among the 29 active head coaches with 500 or more wins (575) at the NCAA Division I.
The Bearkats were picked to finish No.4 in the Southland Conference in pre-season coaches polls.
They finished with a conference record of 11-5 record (17-12 overall) and made the SLC Post-Season tournament, where they were knocked out by UTSA in the semifinal round of the tournament.
The Bearkats are returning nine letterman including four starters.
Three of the starters, (Kim Black, Kendall Cleveland and Kaylee Hawkins), were named to the 2012 pre-season All-Southland Conference team.
Black, a senior from Huntsville, led the team with 139 blocks last season.
It was the highest in one season since SHSU moved up to the NCAA Division I in 1986.
She is two-time All-Southland Conference Selection and is currently No.2 in career blocks at SHSU.
Cleveland, a senior from Houston, was fifth on the team with 179 kills and contributed with 45 blocks last year.
Hawkins, a senior from Dickson, is ranked No.9 in SHSU history with 1,345 career digs.
She was fourth on the team with 186 kills and is a two-time All-Southland Conference selection.
The tournament is set to begin tomorrow at 4 p.m.
For more information, visit www.gobearkats.com.