HUNTSVILLE - Kim Black posted 14 kills and three other Bearkats produced double figure kills as Sam Houston rallied for a five set victory over UTSA to stretch their winning streak to 10 Thursday night at Johnson Coliseum.
Sam Houston State won 17-25 25-17 25-21 26-28 15-13 to up their season mark to 18-10 and continue to rank in first place in the Southland Conference West Division with a 10-1 league record.
Carli Kolbe, Anna Ferguson and Camille Alfaro each totaled 13 kills for Sam Houston. Whitney Walls led UTSA with 20 kills.
With the match even at two sets apiece, the Roadrunners jumped out to a 9-4 lead in the fifth. But Sam Houston won seven of the next nine points to tie the set at 11-all. The two teams traded points and, at 13-13, Michelle Miller served an ace and UTSA was called for a ball handling error on match point.
The 10-match winning streak is the longest for Sam Houston since the Bearkats won 14 in a row in 1993. The five-set victory marked the ninth time in 11 matches this year the Bearkats have won a five-setter. UTSA and Sam Houston have gone five six of their last seven meetings.
"We should have won this one in the fourth," Sam Houston head coach Brenda Gray said. "We got a little relaxed in the fourth set and sometimes, when you get a lead, you get away from what is working. UTSA has a good team and it's hard to believe we've beaten them twice this season. They're big and athletic. We were down in the fifth set but the girls never felt like they were out of it. They needed to bring everything at the end and they did."
UTSA fell to 9-15 for the year and 4-5 in Southland Conference play.
Sam Houston totaled 83 winners in the match with 54 kills, eight service aces and 21 blocks. Black and Ferguson both had a hand in eight of the blocks whie Kolbe had seven block assists.
UTSA totaled 80 winners with 67 kills, four aces and nine blocks.
"Kim Black had a monster match for us tonight," Gray added. "Those three aces Courtney Laskowski had in the fifth game were huge for us. Camille Alfaro was goog tonight and Anna and Carli are as good as anybody out there."
With the victory Sam Houston clinches its berth in the Southland Conference post-season tournament to be held at UTSA Nov. 20-22.
Sam Houston State will play its final home match on Saturday at 2 p.m. when the Bearkats play host to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
