New Orleans - Led by Carli Kolbe who knocked down 17 kills, Sam Houston State lost to No. 16 ranked Oregon 25-17 25-12 22-25 25-20 Saturday night to complete play for the Bearkats at the Sugar Bowl Classic.
With the victory in the third set, Sam Houston became only the fourth team this year to take a set from the Ducks. Oregon, 10-0 after winning the Sugar Bowl Classic, had dropped one set in only three other matches this year.
The nationally-ranked Ducks had to fight throughout the match. Only in the second set did Oregon lead from start to finish. In the third set, there were 14 ties and seven lead changes before Sam Houston took charge. And, in the fourth and decisive set, the Bearkats forced four ties and three lead changes before the Ducks closed out the match.
Kellie Stewart added eight kills to the Bearkat toal.
The Sam Houston fell in a pair of hard fought matches to Tulane and Florida International on the first day of the tournament hosted by Tulane University Friday.
The Kats lost to host Tulane 26-24 25-16 29-27 Friday morning then fell to Florida International 29-25 25-14 26-24 Friday night.
Carli Kolbe led the Bearkats with 10 kills in the loss to the Green Wave. Kim Black and Kaylee Hawkins each added seven kills.
Kelli Stewart was Sam Houston's top scorer in the second match with eight kills. Kolbe and Black each added six kills.
Despite losing in three sets in each match, the contests were close ones. In the decisive 29-27 third set in the loss to Tulane alone there were nine lead changes and five ties.
The first set of the FIU match, the two squads were tied 15 ties with eight lead changes. Sam Houston drops to 6-8 for the year with the two losses.
Sam Houston State will complete play in the Tulane tournament with a 6 p.m. match Saturday against No. 16 ranked Oregon.
Following the Tulane tournament, the Bearkats roll into the Southland Conference portion of their schedule.
Sam Houston opens Southland action on the road with a trip to Central Arkansas Thursday Sept. 23 and Northwestern State on Saturday Sept. 25.
The first Southland Conference home match will be Thursday Sept. 30 when the Bearkats play host to the A&M-Corpus Christi Islanders at Johnson Coliseum in a 7 p.m. match.
Tickets for Sam Houston volleyball home matches are onsale now online. Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for youth. Sam Houston students receive free admission at Johnson Coliseum on presentation of their BearkatOne ID cards. Tickets also are on sale at the Sam Houston 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. The ticket office telephone is 936 294-1729.
