Houston volleyball officially kicked off its season this past weekend, playing in the LSU tournament in Baton Rouge, La. Where a team with many new faces looks to start off strong for head coach David Rehr in his eighth season with the program.
The Cougars would split this tournament 1-1, beating Incarnate Word and falling to Wake Forest.
Houston barrages Incarnate Word with new high-flying offense
The Cougars had their first official match of the season against Incarnate Word on Friday night, where they put on a display of their newly acquired firepower by sweeping the Cardinals 3-0 to start the season with a win.
Houston had three players get 10 kills or more in this game: junior outside hitter Sydney Jones, junior outside hitter Kamille Gibson and sophomore outside hitter Noemi Despaigne.
Jones showed out in her debut. The former Tennessee Volunteer had 14 kills to lead all players in this match.
The first set was tied 14-14 after a slow start for Houston, but that quickly turned with an 11-2 run to clinch the set, including two aces by Gibson, another new face to this Houston squad.
The new faces continued to dominate, with junior setter Kalei Edson leading all players in assists, racking up 32.
Some familiar faces also made an impact in this game, with sophomore middle blocker Tara Greenberry getting four blocks and an ace.
This is now back-to-back seasons Houston has started with a sweep win.
Houston falls to Wake Forest in five sets despite new trio getting nearly 60 combined kills
The Cougars had their second game of the LSU tournament on Saturday against Wake Forest, losing in five sets.
The combo of Gibson, Jones and Despaigne had a highly impressive performance again, combining for 58 of Houston’s 70 kills.
Edson again came through with a massive performance as well, getting 55 assists in this game.
Houston had to overcome errors in many critical moments, they ended up with 23 errors to the Deacons’ 18.
Up 2-1 going into the fourth set, the Cougars looked to close things out, but a 7-2 run by the Deacons to go up 21-13 put the set just far enough out of reach.
The fifth set was very similar as well, with Wake Forest again taking advantage of a highly worked Houston hitting group and going on big runs to secure their comeback victory with a 15-11 win.
After this first weekend of official play, Houston holds a record of 1-1. Coming up next for it will be the Houston Invitational, which will be hosted at home at Fertitta Center.
The first game will be played against Texas Southern on Thursday, Sept. 3, at 1 p.m. followed by facing Abilene Christian that evening at 6:30 p.m.
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