VOLLEYBALL: Our Lady of the Lake completes home-and-home sweep of HT

By Alan Wiederhold-Sohn
HT Athletic Communiations

SAN ANTONIO – For the second time in as many days, Huston-Tillotson University's volleyball team gave a stronger performance than their opponents may have expected as the Rams again forced a four-set match at Our Lady of the Lake.
 
The Saints won Saturday's match by scores of 23-25, 25-12, 25-16, and 25-14.
 
At OLLU's Mabee Gymnasium, San Antonio natives Chloe Gaytan and Olivia De La Cruz led the Rams by knocking down eight kills apiece. Gaytan added 12 digs for the HT defense, while De La Cruz hit .217 for the match.
 
Elaina Spriggins handed out 14 assists and tallied 14 digs for the Rams while also putting away six kills with no attacking errors, good for a .429 hitting percentage. Danelle McCullough another HT player from San Antonio, led the Rams with 20 digs, while Aniyah Asberry dug 15 Saint attacks.
 
The Saints (16-7), who are in second place in the Red River Athletic Conference with a 9-1 league record, were led by Mia Francis' 15 kills and .484 hitting percentage. Francis did not commit an attacking error in 31 attempts Saturday.
 
An early run of six unanswered points in the first set gave the Rams a 10-6 lead. Three OLLU attack errors during that run gave the Rams a lead they would not relinquish for the remainder of the set.
 
Similar to the teams' previous matchup Friday in Austin, the first-set loss shook the Saints out of complacency. Early runs in each of the next three sets vaulted Our Lady of the Lake to early, relatively comfortable leads that forced the Rams to play from behind. In set four, the Saints ceded two of the first three points before embarking on an 11-1 run that set the tone for the final frame.
 
Kennedy White put away for kills for the Rams, while Kadyn Smith and Angelina Munoz knocked down two kills apiece for Huston-Tillotson.
 
The Rams are still only two games behind Jarvis Christian for the sixth and final berth into the postseason Red River Athletic Conference tournament. HT will try to gain ground next weekend when they travel to Southwest (N.M.); the Mustangs have won only once in 13 matches this season.

– HT –