HUNTSVILLE ? Anna Ferguson totaled 17 kills and Sarah Hazlewood and Carli Kolbe each added 10 to lead Sam Houston State to a five set victory over Nicholls State Saturday night at Johnson Coliseum.

            The Bearkats defeated the Colonels 16-25 25-23 30-32 25-22 15-12 for Sam Houston's fourth five-set match in a row. Sam Houston stand 9-14 for the season and upped its Southland Conference record to 4-3. Nicholls State dropped to 5-12 for the year and 2-5 in league action.

            Manieka Golden led the Colonels with 15 kills. Rachel Spreen added 14.

            Nicholls totaled 65 kills to Sam Houston's 55 and the teams were even in hitting errors with 28 apiece. But the Bearkat front line combined for 15 blocks and the Kats added 11 service aces.

            Through the five sets, the score was tied 55 times.

            Kym Loving assisted on 47 of Sam Houston's 55 kills. Loving also assisted on six Bearkat blocks.

           "The girls never quit fighting," SHSU head coach Brenda Gray said. "This was a great win for the team."

           Saturday was "Dig for the Cure" night with fans pledging amounts of money towards breast cancer research for each dig totaled by the Bearkats. Sam Houston ended with 80 digs.

           "We would have rather not gone to five games, but we got a lot of digs and a lot of contributions for a very worthy cause," Gray said.   

            Next action for the Bearkats is a road trip to Nacogdoches to play Stephen F. Austin Tuesday at 7 p.m.