Despite 14 kills from Deveney Wells-Gibson and 11 by Jordyn Vaughn, Sam Houston State fell in three sets to Houston Baptist Saturday at Stark Gym on the HBU campus in Houston.

Playing without injured starter Shelby Genung, the Bearkats fell to the Huskies 26-24 25-11 25-11 to end the regular season with an 18-11 overall record and an 11-5 Southland Conference mark.

Sam Houston will be the No. 4 seed at next week's Southland Conference tournament in Natchitoches, La., as A&M-Corpus Christi defeated Lamar to tied for third with SHSU. The Islanders had the tiebreaker over the Kats after the pair split in their two meetings this fall.

HBU finished 15-16 for the year and 9-7 in league action. The Huskies were led Saturday by Jessica Wooten with 11 kills.

Again, errors hurt the Bearkats throughout the match. Although Sam Houston out-totaled HBU in kills 44-41, the SHSU women had 23 hitting errors compared to the Huskies' six.

Both the first and third sets were close but, in each, Sam Houston could never get over the hump. The Kats never led in the opening set. Down 22-17, they rallied to tie 24-24 but the Huskies won two quick points for the 26-24 set win.

Sam Houston won the opening point in the second set but fell behind quickly. With HBU up 8-4, the Huskies went on a 10-4 run to go up 18-8. They closed out the set winning five points in a row.

HBU led 19-14 in the third when Sam Houston staged a rally, cutting the margin to 23-22. But, again the Huskies closed out the match with two straight kills.

Setter Michelle Griffith led the SHSU women with 36 assists. Libero Claire Kilpatrick was in charge on defense with 13 digs. Wells-Gibson added 10 digs.

Complete pairings and schedule for the Southland Conference tournament which begins next Friday will be announced Sunday.