Bearkats Volleyball Extends Win Streak To Ten Games
Courtesy: Paul Ridings, Jr., SHSU Sports Information
Tulsa, Oklahoma- Kendall Cleveland posted a career high 22 kills to power Sam Houston from a two sets to one deficit for a five-set win over Oral Roberts in a two-and-half hour marathon volleyball match Thursday night.
The victory set the stage for a showdown battle with Southland leader Central Arkansas Saturday afternoon in Conway.
UCA leads the league with an 11-2 conference record.
Sam Houston’s 10-match winning streak give the Kats a 10-2 league mark.
SHSU is now 15-9 for the season.
Deveney Wells-Gibson and Hailey Neisler added 19 and nine kills, respectively for the Kats.
Setter Tayler Gray assisted on 49 kills and led the Kat defense with 26 digs.
In a pattern that became the norm throughout the match, Oral Roberts jumped out to an early lead in the first set.
Down 11-6, the Kats fought back to take a 17-15 lead on a kill by Cleveland.
The Golden Eagles took control, winning 10 of the next 13 points for a one set lead.
With Sam Houston down 9-4 in the second set, Cleveland rallied the Kats again with two kills to put SHSU up 14-13.
The Bearkats led the rest of the way to even that match at a set apiece.
ORU built another 9-4 lead in the third frame but again Sam Houston caught up, taking a 16-14 lead on a kill by Kaylee Hawkins.
The Golden Eagles won 11 of the next 15 points to go up two sets to one.
Sam Houston never trailed in the fourth set as the Kats evened the match at two sets all.
Another Cleveland kill gave SHSU a 6-1 start in the frame.
Again in the final set, ORU led early, going up 9-6.
But the Kats roared back.
Each team had three match points before Cleveland tied the set 19-19 then set up SHSU’s fourth match point with a service ace.
Kaylee Hawkins put away the final kill to clinch the victory.
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.