CORPUS CHRISTI – The Sam Houston Bearkats split a pair of matches on Friday at the Islander Classic, falling first to SMU before taking down host A&M-Corpus Christi at the Dugan Wellness Center.
The Kats (3-3) will close out the weekend event on Saturday when it takes on Indiana at 10:00 a.m.
MATCH 1
SMU 3, Sam Houston 0
The Mustangs were on fire from the start and never let up in a sweep of the Kats to open up the tournament.
SMU hit .351 as a team and no lower than .345 in any of the three sets, finishing with just seven errors on 97 tries. Natalie Perdue and Jamison Wheeler led SMU with 12 kills apiece.
Sam Houston got 10 kills on 26 swings from
Catherine Krieger and 15 digs from
Hannah Baker, but hit just .034 for the match with no other player finishing with more than
Madison Dyer's six kills.
MATCH 2
Sam Houston 3, A&M-Corpus Christi
The Kats flipped the script in the nightcap, rolling past the host Islanders with a sweep to even out the day.
Libero
Hannah Baker totaled 22 digs in just three sets and freshman outside hitter
Hailey Heider landed a team-high 11 kills, but it was the defense that stood up in the match, holding AMCC to just .145 hitting as a team.
Madison Dyer added nine kills and Krieger had eight with just one error.
Elizabeth See led the Kats with three blocks and setter
Analise Lucio had a team-best 21 assists.
Both teams hit well offensively in the first set, but the Kats' .324 mark was enough to push the Kats to a 1-0 lead, scoring three of the set's final four points. Sam Houston then hit .276 in Set 2, using a 7-0 run midway thru the frame to open things up on their way to a convincing 25-17 win.
The last set did not come so easy as the Kats had to come from behind late. Sam Houston trailed 22-19 before a 4-0 spurt that ended on a Baker ace put the Kats up. Things would then go to extra points and the Kats got the winning points on the strength of Dyer who tied it at 26-26 with a kill before delivering the winning ace one serve later.
