Nacogdoches - Carli Kolbe totaled 17 kills but it wasn't enough to push Sam Houston to another victory over Stephen F. Austin as the Lumberjacks won in four sets on their home floor Wednesday night.
SFA rallied after losing the first set to post a 19-25 25-23 25-18 31-29 victory over Sam Houston. The pair now are tied for third place in the Southland Conference West Division with identical 4-4 league marks. Sam Houston, who defeated SFA in five sets two weeks ago in Huntsville, stands 10-14 for the season while the Jacks upped their record for the year to 11-13.
Sam Houston had two changes to extend the match to a fifth set, holding set points at 25-24 and 28-27. The Jacks had an answer both times. The Bearkats survived four match points before Ariele Daron put away the match winner on the Jacks' fifth opportunity.
Daron led Stephen F. Austin with 17 kills. Sam Houston's Haley Neisler was the only other player with double figure kills, putting away 11 shots.
Both teams were plagued by errors in the battle. Both committed 34 attack errors with the Bearkats converting 49 of their 168 attempts for kills and SFA rolling up 51 team kills in 173 attempts.
After building an early 12-9 lead, Sam Houston saw the first set tied four times, the last time at 17-17. The Bearkats won seven of the next 10 points to build a 24-19 lead and won set point after an SFA service error.
The second set was knotted 11 times. At 23-all, Lindsay Hill blocked two consecutive Kolbe kill attempts to even the match at a set apiece.
At 9-9 in the third frame, the Lumberjacks started a 9-4 run after consecutive kills by Kelsey Owen and never looked back, going up two sets to one with a 25-18 set win.
Sam Houston trailed 13-9 early in the fourth set but came back to tie the frame 21-21. Three Kelsey Owen hitting errors gave the Bearkats two set points at 24-22 but they couldn't convert.
The Bearkats complete their four-match Southland road trip by traveling to Hammond, La., Saturday afternoon for a match with the Southeastern Louisiana Lions.
The next home match for Sam Houston is Thursday Oct. 28 when SHSU hosts Texas State. The match is " .99 Cent Menu Night and Dig Pink Night" at Johnson.
Student organizations seeking to benefit breast cancer education and awareness, American Cancer Society, Hope Foundation, Colleges Against Cancer and the Breast Cancer Network of Strength will be seeking special pink t-shirts.
Also all all items at the Johnson Coliseum concession stand will be priced at just 99 cents per item.
Tickets for Sam Houston volleyball are on sale online at www.gobearkats.com/tickets and at the Bearkat athletic ticket office located in the Ron Mafrige Field House at Bowers Stadium. Ticket office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.
