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Sports

UH wants to heal wounds at last tourney

by RONNIE TURNER
The Daily Cougar

Houston's season did not end with Saturday's loss to Memphis in the semifinals of the Conference USA Tournament.

The loss ended the Cougars' chances of winning the C-USA Tournament title and the league's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. However, the team still has a chance to claim a tournament title at the Bankers Classic this weekend on the University of the Pacific campus in Stockton, Calif. 

Houston (19-15) will kick off the tournament with a match against the University of San Francisco at 5 p.m. Friday. Depending on the outcome of that match, the Cougars will meet either Portland State or Pacific in the tournament consolation match at 5 p.m. or the championship match at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

The wounds from the Memphis loss have been slow to heal, but the possibility of ending the season with 20-plus victories may speed up the recovery process.

"We're looking forward to having an opportunity of getting a 20-win season, but more importantly, I think we're a little depressed about what happened in the conference tournament," head coach Bill Walton said. "I think we're kind of fired up about the opportunity to try and win a tournament. It's not the conference tournament, but it still would be a tournament victory. We're hoping that we can snag a tournament championship."

Houston raced through the first two rounds of C-USA Tournament but appeared to be running on fumes in the match against Memphis. The Cougars' offensive attack broke down at crucial stretches in the match and the defense found itself unable to contain Memphis' dominant middle blockers. The end result was a 3-1 loss (27-30, 30-32, 30-25, 14-30) that stopped Houston just short of reaching the C-USA championship game.

The loss was particularly depressing for seniors Kelly McAnelly, Becca Sartori and Millicent Martin, who saw their last shot of reaching the NCAA Tournament slip through the cracks.

"I hope this weekend means for them that they have one more chance to finish with a victory," Walton said. "It's not the conference tournament, but still a tournament against three other good teams, and a victory against those teams would go a long way toward softening the blow of Saturday night's (loss)."

USF (22-9) dropped a 3-0 decision to Gonzaga in its West Coast Conference finale on Saturday. The Dons possess a dangerous hitter in junior Kristin Hasselberg, who is second in the WCC with 4.6 kills per game.

Portland State (19-7) will enter the tournament after being eliminated by Eastern Washington in the semifinals of the Big Sky Conference Tournament on Friday. 

Pacific (7-20) has lost nine of its last 10 matches.

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