The Jones, Despaigne comeback show cut short as Houston volleyball falls to UCF

Houston volleyball hosted UCF on Friday night to kick off rivalry week in the Big 12 conference. The visiting Knights won their first conference matchup of the season, 3-2, after nearly suffering a reverse sweep by the Cougars.

Houston outside hitters junior Sydney Jones and sophomore Noemi Despaigne helped kickstart the comeback push.

Jones ended the game with 27 kills, the second most for her this season, with nine of them coming in the fourth set, where the Cougars would win 25-22 to push the game into a fifth set.

A season-high 21-kill performance for Despaigne was a major point in the offense for Houston, with several high-energy moments and celebrations coming after a kill to fuel the shift in gameplay.

The Cougars ended the game with 29 attacking errors and 14 service errors; combining those with 14 blocks for UCF led to Houston fighting an uphill battle.

Five of those attacking and service errors came in the tiebreaking fifth set. The Cougars held the lead late, up 12-11 in a 15-point match point, but were unable to capitalize and would go on to lose the set 16-14.

The final point for UCF, an attacking error by Despaigne.

The first two sets both started off with early runs from UCF that made it very tough for Houston to come back.

In the first set, an early 13-4 run saw UCF go up by as much as eight points; the second set saw a similar 13-5 run to start for the Knights as they capitalized on the Cougars’ mistakes.

Houston would continue its comeback efforts in the fourth set, where 16 kills from the combo of Despaigne and Jones helped the Cougars maintain the lead throughout the entire set.

For the Knights, senior outside hitter Avah Armour put together a double-double performance, collecting 13 digs to go alongside a team-high 17 kills.

Houston’s record drops to 10-7 on the year and 3-3 in conference play.

Up next for the Cougars will be the second game in their rivalry week homestand, where they will host Texas Tech, which is winless in conference play, on Sunday, Oct.19, at 1 p.m.