HOUSTON, Texas – The ULM volleyball team posted a pair of wins Friday to open up the Molly Howard Gerwig Memorial Tournament at Houston Baptist. The Warhawks shut out Bethune-Cookman, 3-0, before bouncing back from a loss in the first set to defeat UC Riverside, 3-1, in four sets.
The Warhawks wrap up the tournament with host Houston Baptist at 2 p.m. Saturday.
ULM 3, Bethune-Cookman 0
A 5-1 run midway through the first set, and a 5-0 run late in the set pushed ULM into the lead and let the Warhawks pull away, setting the tone for the 3-0 sweep with a 25-21 first set victory.
ULM went ahead 2-0 in the match with a 25-19 win in the second set. The Warhawks trailed 16-15 before using a 4-2 run to surge ahead for good at 19-18 on a bad set by B-CU. Back-to-back kills by
Logan Jeffus and
Brynn Botkin extended the lead to 21-18. After a B-CU point, ULM closed the set on a 4-0 run, with kills by Jeffus and Botkin to finish off the set.
The Warhawks carried the momentum into the final set. The set was tied at 12 before ULM ended the match with a 13-4 run. Four consecutive errors for B-CU allowed ULM to go out to a 16-12 lead. The two sides kept the set at a four-point margin until ULM ended the match with a 5-0 run with
Madeline Villarreal picking up two kills and
Cameron Rogers earning an ace to seal the match, 25-16.
Jeffus led ULM with 11 kills, while
Bailey Roberson had 18 assists.
Madeline Williams,
Taylor Thomas and
Callie Humphrey led the defensive effort with six digs each. Williams added three blocks.
ULM 3, UC Riverside 1
After dropping the first set, 25-23, ULM responded to take the next three, 25-19, 25-22, 25-18, to take the match and improve to 2-3 on the season.
UCR used a 6-0 spurt to answer ULM's 6-0 spurt to get back into the first set. The Highlanders eventually built a 23-21 lead, but the Warhawks tied the set at 23 off a service error and a kill by Jeffus. UCR answered with back-to-back kills to claim the set, 25-23.
ULM used a 5-1 run to jump in front, 11-8, in the second set. UCR battled back to take a 13-12 lead, but ULM responded with a 4-1 run, closed on a kill by Williams, to regain a 16-14 advantage. UCR knotted it back up at 18, but an immediate 4-0 run by ULM, with a kill by Thomas and three Highlander errors, handed the Warhawks a 22-18 lead. After a point to UCR, kills by Botkin and Jeffus sandwiched around an attack error gave the set to ULM, 25-19.
In the third set, a 5-0 ULM run, which featured two kills by Williams, gave the Warhawks a 21-14 lead. ULM maintained the seven-point lead to 23-16, before UCR mounted a 6-0 run to get within a point. However, a service error ended the run, and Roberson's ace ended the set in favor of ULM, 25-22.
In the fourth, and ultimately final, set, a kill by Thomas handed ULM a 6-5 lead, which they never relinquished. UCR didn't let ULM run away with the set, though, and was within two points at 20-18 when the Warhawks scored the final five points of the match to earn the win, with two kills by Jeffus in the stretch, to take the 25-18 win.
Williams and Jeffus had 10 kills each, while Roberson tallied 28 assists. Rogers had 24 digs while Thomas added 15.
Tessa Gerwig had three blocks.
