Sophomore Brooke White led Sam Houston in scoring with 14 kills in victories over both Prairie View A&M and Tulane to stand 2-0 after the first day of action in the Bearkat Volleyball Invitational Friday at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.

The Kats defeated Prairie View 25-15 25-13 26-24 in their mid-day match. In the 7 p.m. feature game of the tournament, Sam Houston topped Tulane 25-15 25-22 25-15. 

“This morning, we showed a little bit of nerves,” head coach Brenda Gray said. “But the match against Prairie View helped prepare us for tonight. Our intensity against Tulane was high and it was a great match to watch. The team played well in just about every facet of the game, especially our serving.”

Sam Houston totaled 11 aces in the nightcap after six in the victory over the Panthers. Junior Shelby Genung led the team with seven aces on the day (three versus Prairie View and four against Tulane.

“The two matches were fun. It was a good start to the season,” Genung said. “We have a lot of new girls on the team and we've really come together. Everyone did their jobs. This is a great way to start the season.”

Another sophomore, Huntsville Jordyn Vaughn, totaled nine kills in the win over the Green Wave. Two of Vaughn's kills helped spark a comeback by Sam Houston to win the second set after trailing 17-13. The Kats tied the score 22-22 on a Vaughn kill and closed out the stanza with a Shelby Genung kill, a service ace by White and an attacked error by the Green Wave.

Freshman Amanda Gooch totaled 11 kills in 18 tries in Sam Houston's opening victory over Prairie View. Vaughn added nine kills and freshman Taylor Cunningham was credited with seven.

Sam Houston never trailed in the first two sets of the victory. But the Panthers came on strong in the third stanza to lead eight times. There were 10 ties in the set including a 24-24 tie after a pair of Bearkat errors.

But Sara Sherman's kill set up a second match point and the Kats earned the victory on a Prairie View error.

All-Southland Conference setter Michelle Griffith assisted on 31 of Sam Houston's 49 kills. Griffith was credited with 39 assists in the nightcap vs. Tulane. Freshman setter Jaclyn Ward saw her first college action, picking up eight assists in the third set.

Claire Kilpatrick and Breanna Homer anchored the Kat defense. Kilpatrick led both teams with 15 digs from her libero position in the win over Prairie View and Homer added 12 digs. Kilpatrick picked up 13 digs in the win against Tulane.

The tournament continues with five more matches beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday. Sam Houston plays UTSA at 11:30 a.m. and the final match of the event at 7 p.m. versus Montana State.

MATCH ONE
MONTANA STATE defeats Tulane 25-18 25-23 23-25 26-24

Led by Loni Kreun who totaled 15 kills and three aces, Montana State held off a determined Tulane squad to win the tournament opener in four sets.

The Bobcats trailed only once in the opening set, the each of the last three sets saw multiple ties and lead changes.

Three members of the Green Wave squad totaled double figure kills as Sarah Ray posted 19, Tea Juric 17 and Sarah Strasner 13.

After forcing a fourth set with a 25-23 win in the third stanza, Tulane had the lead four times including a 19-13 margin before the Bobcats fought back to win the final two points at 24-all.

MATCH THREE
UTSA defeats Montana State 25-17 25-16 25-23

Antonela Jularic totaled 11 kills and Megan Slan added nine more to lead UTSA to a three-set victory in the Roadrunners' opening match in the Invitational.

Montana State was led by Eli Svisco with seven kills and Chase Doughty with six.

UTSA trailed only three times in the match, one in the first set and twice in the second. The Bobcats, however, were just two points away from forcing a fourth set as they led 23-19 late in the third stanza.

But the Roadrunners bounced back to even the set at 23-23. Antonela Jularic served an ace and Tessa Dahnert ended the contest with a kill.

MATCH FOUR
UTSA defeats Prairie View 25-13 25-13 25-14

Dajana Boskovic lead both teams with 16 kills and only three errors in 23 attempts (.565 hitting percentage) as UTSA picked up its second three-set victory Friday over Prairie View A&M.

The Roadrunners out-pointed the Panthers 61 to 26 for a 25-13 25-13 25-14 victory.

Jasmine Lewis led Prairie View with nine kills in 16 attempts.