HOUSTON, Texas – The University of Houston broke a tie midway through the final set to defeat Southeastern Louisiana, 20-25, 25-15, 25-18, 23-25, 15-10, at the Flo Hyman Collegiate Cup and snap the Lady Lions' four-match winning streak.
Southeastern (6-7) grabbed the momentum early, taking the first set behind an incredibly efficient offense (.619 attack percentage). The Lady Lions did not commit an attack error in the set (13 kills in 21 attempts).
Houston (10-2) took the next two sets, but Southeastern bounced back to win the fourth set.
Tied 9-9, the Lady Lions built a five point advantage, 18-13, on a
Tiffany Thomas kill. The Cougars closed within one, but a kill from
Rachael Bunn sent the match to a fifth and final set.
Back and forth early, Southeastern took a 7-6 lead in the final set on a
Veronica Turk kill, but Houston rallied to close out the match on a 9-3 run.
Thomas led the Lady Lions with 10 kills.
Madi Odom chipped in nine and Turk added eight kills to aid the offensive attack.
Mikayla Shippy (25 assists) and
Haley Baker (11 assists) shared setting duties.
Brooke Balser (19) led three Lady Lions in reaching double-digit digs. She was joined by
Monica Ramon (11) and Odom (10).
Brookah Palmer led all players with 23 kills. Sarah Afflerbaugh contributed 16 and Hunter Wise added 12 kills for the Cougars. Keandra McCardell handed out a match-high 38 assists and Sophie Paine chipped in 12 more.
Olivia O'Dell picked up 25 digs to lead all players and Destiny Patterson added 12 more for Houston.
Bunn and Odom were named to the All-Tournament Team. They joined O'Dell (MVP) and Palmer, Nicholls' Anna Niederhauser, Alabama A&M's Ashundria McNeal and Prairie View A&M's Ana Kiso in drawing the honors.
Southeastern opens Southland Conference play this week with a pair of road contests, Thursday at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (6:30 p.m.) and Saturday at Houston Baptist (1 p.m.).
Houston def. Southeastern La. 20-25, 25-15, 25-18, 23-25, 15-10
Southeastern La. (6-7) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Thomas, Tiffany 10-1-0; Odom, Madi 9-1-1; Turk, Veronica 8-1-3; Bunn, Rachael 7-0-2; Shippy, Mikayla 5-0-0; Bullock, Landry 5-0-1; Friedman, Sarah 3-0-2; Ramon, Monica 1-2-0; Hartley, Parrie 0-0-1;
Totals 48-5-5.0. (Assists) - Shippy, Mikayla 25; Baker, Haley 11.
(Dig leaders) - Balser, Brooke 19; Ramon, Monica 11; Odom, Madi 10
Houston (10-2) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Palmer, Brookah 23-2-4; Afflerbaugh, Sarah 16-2-0; Wise, Hunter 12-0-3; Walker, Chenelle 7-0-3; Smith, Courtney 3-1-3; Paine, Sophie 1-0-0; McGown, Claire 1-1-0; Harper, Shelby 1-0-0; McCardell, Keandra 0-1-0; Patterson, Destiny 0-1-0;
Totals 64-8-7.0. (Assists) - McCardell, Keandra 38; Paine, Sophie 12.
(Dig leaders) - O'Dell, Olivia 25; Patterson, Destiny 12; Palmer, Brookah 9
Site: Houston, Texas (Athletics/Alumni)
Date: Sep 19, 2015
Attend: 508
Time: 2:12
Referees: Mary Blalock, Thang Nguyen
Flo Hyman Collegiate Cup All-Tournament TeamMVP: Olivia O'Dell – Houston
Brookah Palmer – Houston
Rachel Bunn – Southeastern
Madi Odom – Southeastern
Anna Niederhauser - Nicholls
Ashundria McNeal – Alabama A&M
Ana Kiso – Prairie View A&M
