Back home again Thursday night vs HBU
10/30/2014 4:29:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
After two weeks on the road, the Sam Houston volleyball team begins a five-match home stand with an important match against Houston Baptist Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
The Bearkats, the Huskies and Sam Houston's opponent Saturday afternoon, A&M-Corpus Christi, all are tied for third place in the Southland Conference race.
Unbeaten league leaders Stephen F. Austin (11-0) and Central Arkansas (10-0) battle in Nacogdoches Saturday. In order to keep pace with the frontrunners, the Kats need victories on their home floor Thursday and Saturday.
Sam Houston is unbeaten (7-0) at Johnson Coliseum and sports a nine-match home winning streak going back to last season.
“It's great to be back at home,” senior outside Deveney Wells-Gibson said. “We had some tough matches on the road in the past two weeks and we're glad to have our home fans back behind us.”
The SHSU women took both Southland leaders to five sets on their home floors. The Bearkats are the only conference team this year to take two sets from Stephen F. Austin. The Kats also had a two sets to one lead against the Bears.
Sam Houston brings a 13-9 season record and a 6-3 Southland mark into Thursday's match. Houston Baptist also is 6-3 in league action and stands 11-12 for the year.
Two of the Southland's top offensive players will duel Thursday. Wells-Gibson leads the league in kills with 398 this year for an average of 4.68 per set. HBU's Jessica Wooten has 313 kills to her credit for a 3.96 average.
The two setters from each team rank one and two in assists this season. The Huskies' Kayla Armer sports a 10.75 average to lead the league while SHSU's Michelle Griffith is right behind at 10.71.
Defensively, Bearkat libero Claire Kilpatrick is sixth in the Southland with 4.07 digs per set while HBU's Haley Hoffman stands seventh with a 4.04 mean.
Alliso Doerpinghaus is one of the Southland's top defenders up front with 90 blocks this season.
Carling Urben (148 kills), Shelby Genung (138 kills) and Jordyn Vaughn (130 kills) also provide offensive firepower for Sam Houston. Breanna Homer (293 digs), Wells-Gibson (236 digs) and Griffith (219 digs) also contribute defensively.
Sam Houston's match Saturday with A&M-Corpus Christi will start at 2 p.m.
