Young players stepping up for Bearkats
9/29/2015 8:30:00 AM | Women's Volleyball
When sophomore outside hitter Jordyn Vaughn went down with an ankle injury in the third set of the Texas State match two weeks ago, the Sam Houston volleyball team lost a major cog in its offense.
Vaughn and fellow sophomore Brooke White ranked as two of the top four leaders in the Southland Conference in total kills. But, in the Bearkats' performance in a four-set victory over Lamar last Friday in the league opener for both teams, several young players stepped up to help the Kats earn the win.
Freshman outside hitter Madison Wallace took up a lot of the slack producing 14 kills in 37 attempts to tie with White as the team's top scorer in the match. Wallace, a Deer Park High School product, was perfect on the attack with no errors for a .378 hitting percentage.
Another freshman, Taylor Cunningham from Huntsville High School, also posted double figure kills with 10 in 23 attempts.
Veteran junior middle blocker Breanna Homer also stepped up her game. Homer led the team with 25 digs and added eight kills. She accounted for 25 of Sam Houston's 58 successful service receptions as well.
“It's tough going into a match without one of your starters, but we got after Lamar Friday night,” head coach Brenda Gray said. “We went at them and didn't make a lot of errors. Breanna did a good job in the front row and we got some great play from Brooke and the freshmen as well.”
Tuesday the Bearkats face another challenge as they travel to Natchitoches, La., for their first Southland Conference road test of the year against Northwestern State. The Demons are led by Glynna Johnson who ranks fourth in the Southland in hitting percentage.
Sam Houston will be out to even the score with a Demon squad that eliminated the Kats in the first round of the Southland Conference tournament last year in Natchitoches. Northwestern State went on to win the tournament and earn an NCAA post-season playoff berth versus the University of Texas.
Following Tuesday night's action, the Bearkats return home to Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum for matches against Nicholls on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and McNeese State on Saturday at 11 a.m.
“Breanna did a good job in the front row,” Gray said. “It's tough going into a match without one of your starters. We subbed a lot tonight and everybody did their job.”
