SATURDAY
CHICAGO ? Led by freshman Carli Kolbe who earned all-tournament honors with 32 kills, 10 aces and four blocks in four matches, the Sam Houston State volleyball team completed play in the Loyola Invitational with a 1-3 record.
Kolbe accounted for 13 kills in the Bearkats' final match of the tournament Saturday night, a tight four-game loss to Bucknell.
Sam Houston (3-6) and Bucknell were tied 40 times in the matches four sets with Bucknell winning 25-22 23-25 25-14 25-18. Sarah Hazlewood added nine kills and Haley Thomas was credited with seven. Bucknell ended with a narrow 43-42 advantage in kills, posting 60 offensive points to 52 for Sam Houston.
Host team Loyola University of Chicago handed Sam Houston a three-set loss Saturday afternoon, defeating the Kats 25-18 25-16 25-21.
Sam Houston held early leads in both the first and third set, but the Ramblers dominated throught out the contest. Loyola totaled 39 kills and 50 offensive points to 23 kills and only 31 points for the Bearkats.
Loyola built 20-11 leads in both the first and second set and were up 21-15 in the third set before Sam Houston rallied to cut the margin to 23-19.
Haley Thomas led the Bearkats with eight kills. Anna Ferguson totaled seven.
The Bearkats continue their month-long road swing next week playing in the Tulsa Hurricane Classic in Tulsa, OK.
FRIDAY
CHICAGO, IL ? The Sam Houston State volleyball team went 1-1 on the first day of the Loyola-Chicago Invitational Friday, falling in four sets to Evansville in the morning then coming back in the afternoon to defeat Tennessee-Martin also in a four-setter.
Sam Houston (2-4) defeated Tennessee-Martin 25-15 26-24 24-26 26-24 in a tight match that saw 31-tie scores overall in the four sets.
Senior Anna Ferguson led the Bearkats with 14 kills. Freshman Carli Kolbe added 11 and transfer Haley Thomas posted 10 kills.
As a team the Bearkats totaled 54 kills to UTM's 43. Sam Houston State's defense came up with 11 blocks with Launa McClung and Thomas each accounting for five blocks.
In the decisive fourth set, the two teams were tied 10 times with six lead changes. The last tie was at 24-24. Thomas blasted a kill and McClung and Thomas combined for a block for the two points of the match.
In Friday morning's match, Brittanie Wallace led the Bearkats with 11 kills and Thomas added 10 as the Evansville
Aces defeated the Bearkats 25-17 25-21 21-25 25-22. The victory was the first this season for Evansville who now stands 1-4.
Sally Kulupka led the Aces with 16 kills. Evansville never trailed in the first set, jumping out to a 15-5 lead.
Sam Houston grabbed an early 4-3 lead in the second set on a kill by McClung. But the Aces went on a 5-2 run and led the rest of the way to go up two sets to none.
In the third set, Sam Houston again took an early lead. Evansville tied the set for a second time at 15-15, but a kill by Haley Thomas gave SHSU a lead they never relinquished as the Kats held on for a 25-21 set win.
The fourth set was tied four times before Evansville jumped out toa 21-16 lead. The Bearkats cut the margin to 24-22, but Emily Wandersee's kill at match point gave the victory to the aces.
Kym Loving totaled 37 assists at setter for Sam Houston. Thomas totaled six blocks.
Saturday, the Kats complete play in the tournament, taking on host Loyola-Chicago at 12 noon and Bucknell at 5 p.m.
