Sam Houston State volleyball closed out tournament play on Friday, dropping a pair of 3-0 matches to SMU (19-25, 16-25, 25-27) and eighth-ranked North Carolina (21-25, 18-25, 13-25) at the TCU Horned Frog Invitational.

In the opener against the Mustangs (6-4), Sam Houston was held to an .065 hitting percentage while Jordyn Vaughn and Brooke White led the charge with eight kills. Michelle Griffith notched 26 assists and 11 digs while Taylor Cunningham had four block assists.

The squads went back and forth in the final set as the Kats limited SMU to a .171 attack percentage compared to .308 in the opening frame and .289 in the second. The Mustangs' Ashley Holman finished with 11 kills while Lauren Mills had 10.

In the finale, Sam Houston (6-7) went toe to toe with the Tar Heels (7-1) in the opening set behind a .217 attack percentage in an eventual four-point loss but could not keep in going in the final two frames.

Brooke White posted eight kills followed by seven from Cunningham and six from Vaughn. Griffith added 20 assists while Claire Kilpatrick finished with 13 digs. Against a physical Carolina squad, Sam Houston logged 5 ½ blocks compared to the Tar Heels' 10.

After spending nearly the first month on the road, Sam Houston opens its home slate and Southland Conference play on Tuesday against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. First serve is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and will take place in the Health and Kinesiology Center (HKC) with ongoing renovations in Johnson Coliseum.