Huntsville - Kendall Cleveland totaled 16 kills and the Bearkat front line combined for 14 blocks as Sam Houston State dominated Oral Roberts to win the team's Southland Conference volleyball opener at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum Thursday night.
The Bearkats defeated the Golden Eagles 25-17 25-21 255-18. The loss came in ORU's first volleyball contest as a member of the Southland Conference.
Deveney Wells-Gibson added 11 kills to the Bearkats' total of 47. The SHSU front line proved hard to penetrate as Kim Black had a hand in nine blocks (two solos and seven assists) and Cleveland took part in six (one solo, five assists).
Black also added seven kills, Haley Neisler had six and Kaylee Hawkins totaled five.
Tatum Fredeen led Oral Roberts with nine kills. Sam Houston out-pointed the Golden Eagles 66 to 40.
Tayler Gray assisted on 35 of the Kats' kills and added 11 digs. Libero Jamie Haas also had 11 defensive plays.
Sam Houston upped its season record to 5-7 while ORU dropped to 4-8.
The Bearkats will be in action again Saturday at 2 p.m. when Sam Houston plays host to Central Arkansas.
