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Volume 72, Issue 67,
Monday, November 27, 2006
Sports UH finishes up and down season with a loss Pacific hands Cougars final defeat of season leaving them with 19-17 record and bad mojo by Ronnie Turner
The victory was there for the taking but, like so many other times this season, the Houston volleyball team failed to capitalize on the opportunity. The Cougars took the first game from Pacific in Saturday's consolation match at the Banker's Classic but failed to hold on to late leads in the next two games, allowing Pacific to sneak away with victories. The deficit was too much to overcome as Houston dropped a 3-1 decision to Pacific (30-27, 31-33, 31-33, 21-30) in its regular season finale before a crowd of 1,170 at the Spanos Center on the Pacific campus in Stockton, Calif. Coupled with Friday's 3-0 loss to the University of San Francisco (18-30, 25-30, 23-30) in the tournament opener, it was a discouraging end to the season for Houston (19-17). "It's very frustrating," Houston head coach Bill Walton said. "We come out and play excellent (in the first game), turn around the very next game with a chance to close out (the opponent), and come up short. (Failing to close out games) has become our trademark for the year." Houston and Pacific (8-21) matched offensive firepower in the opening game, but senior outside hitter Kelly McAnelly lifted the Cougars to the win with 11 kills in the frame. Houston took a late 24-21 lead in the second game, but the Tigers fought back to tie the game at 28. The Cougars had three chances to notch the game point, but Pacific stalled each threat with timely side-outs. Pacific later took advantage of a McAnelly attack error and a kill from Alexa Anderson (35 kills, .493 attack percentage) to win the game and head into the halftime break with the match tied at a game apiece. The third game provided much of the same scenario with Houston battling to a late 29-25 lead and having four chances to secure the game point. However, the Cougars committed two attack errors, and Anderson registered two kills on the next four serves to allow Pacific to tie the match at 29. The Tigers scored four of the final six points to win the third game, and take a 2-1 series lead. That collapse seemed to drain the energy from the Cougars as they stumbled to a 20-9 deficit in the fourth game. Pacific had no trouble sealing the match after that. "What can I say? Déjà vu?" Walton said. "We've been in this position enough times this year." The Cougars' inability to slow Pacific's powerful offensive attack and cut down on their mistakes proved to be difference. Stopping Anderson would have helped, but it wasn't an easy task with the Tigers matching her up against Houston sophomore setter Krystal Schulle (career-high 71 assists). "We're not going to get very many blocks in that situation, and she pretty much just hit the ball off the block," Walton said. Despite the end result, there were a few positives for Houston. The team had three players finish with double-digit kills led by sophomore outside hitter Justine Farmer (28 kills, 25 digs). McAnelly registered 20 kills and senior middle blocker Becca Sartori finished with 19 kills. Farmer's numbers extended her Conference USA-leading double-doubles total to 26, one short of the school single-season record set by Jennifer Wittenburg in 2001. Saturday's finale ended a topsy-turvy season for a young Houston team that fell one victory short of reaching the championship game of the Conference USA Tournament. The team will lose three seniors (McAnelly, Sartori and outside hitter Millicent Martin) and will have to fill those spots for the 2007 season. However, Walton would rather put this season fully to rest before making preparations for next season. "I hate to talk about next year because we haven't even hardly finished this year," Walton said. "We'll have to wait and see how things go in the spring." Send comments to dcsports@mail.uh.edu |
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