HUNTSVILLE – The Sam Houston Bearkat volleyball team kicked off WAC play in winning fashion on Thursday night, taking down Tarleton, 3-1, at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
Ashley Lewis led a trio of Bearkats (8-5, 1-0 WAC) with at least a dozen kills on a night that saw the Kats hit .223 as a team against a Tarleton (7-8, 0-1 WAC) program that Sam Houston was playing for the first time in program history.
Sam Houston owned the first two sets to race out to a 2-0 lead, including a dominating 25-12 victory in Set 2.; however, the Texans responded in kind, outlasting the Kats with a 26-24 win in Set 3 and held a 17-16 lead in Set 4 before a key 6-1 Bearkat run provided some separation before a final push to the finish line.
Lewis landed 19 of her 49 swings for kills and added 23 digs and
Catherine Krieger was even more efficient, hitting .387 with 15 scores on 31 tries.
Breanne Chausse landed a dozen kills, leaving her just one kill shy of 1,000 in her career entering Saturday's match vs Abilene Christian.
Morgan Janda turned in one of her most well-rounded matches of the season with 49 assists and 18 digs, while proving to be an attacking threat as well with seven kills on 16 tries.
Defensively,
Hannah Baker led all players with 24 digs.
The Kats, who were playing at home on Thursday for the first time since the opening weekend of the season, will look to move to 2-0 in WAC play on Saturday afternoon when they host ACU at 1:00 p.m.
