HOUSTON, Texas — Facing its first Big 12 opponent since 2017, Lamar University made the short trip west on Interstate 10 to take on the University of Houston.
The Cardinals were swept 25-16, 25-17, 25-15 on Tuesday night at the Fertitta Center.
The match marked Lamar's first against a Power Four opponent since 2023.
Lamar held a 3-2 lead early in the opening set before Houston used a 5-1 run to build a three-point advantage.
The Cougars later scored four consecutive points to extend the lead to six.
The Cardinals responded with kills from
Grace Hill and
Kinley Elms to cut the deficit in half, but Houston answered with a 6-0 run to push its lead to nine.
The Cougars closed the set on an 8-2 run.
Lamar jumped out to an early three-point lead in the second set following a 3-0 spurt highlighted by a kill from Hill and a service ace from
Leila Ceaser.
Nisaan Martinez added a kill to keep the Cardinals in front by three before Houston scored five unanswered points to take an 11-9 lead.
Lamar trimmed the deficit to one on another kill from Martinez, but the Cougars responded with five straight points to stretch the advantage to seven.
The teams traded points early in the third set, resulting in three ties.
Trailing by three, Lamar rallied with three consecutive points to even the score behind kills from Martinez and Hill.
Houston sealed the match by ending the set on a 7-1 run.
MATCH NOTES
- Martinez paced the Cardinals with 10 kills and five block assists while Hill added nine kills and six digs.
- Lamar finished with 14 total blocks, compared to eight for Houston.
- Rihanna Bryant recorded four block assists, two digs and a kill while Saida Maksoud contributed three block assists.
- Alexa Gonzalez dished out 14 assists and collected seven digs.
- Katelyn Hughes added eight assists and two digs.
- Defensively, Gabby Baker led the Cardinals with 15 digs while also recording two assists and a service ace.
UP NEXT
The Cardinals return to action at the Southern Miss Invitational on Friday, Sept. 11, in Hattiesburg, Miss. Lamar opens the tournament against Southern at 10:30 a.m. before facing host Southern Miss at 6:30 p.m.
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