Outside hitter Camille Evans blocks alongside middle hitter Tosin Adeniyi in a game against Tulane on Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016. (Zhelun Lang/The Daily Campus)
The University of Connecticut women’s volleyball team went undefeated this weekend, defeating Houston in straight sets and Tulane in four sets.
The Huskies started the AAC conference play off right with a straight-sets win against Houston. It is the second time in three seasons that the Huskies have won a conference opener. Redshirt-freshman Kayla Williams had another outstanding game, recording a team-high 10 kills and was one dig short of her sixth straight double-double.
Junior Kenya Cason was second on the team with nine kills and eight digs and senior Camille Evans added eight kills. Junior Tosin Adeniyi helped the Huskies defense with a match-high four blocks and senior Rebeca Rivera had a team-best 19 assists.
UConn got off to a fast start in the first set, jumping out to a 15-7 advantage after a 10-3 run. The set was capped off by a Williams kill. In the second set, with the score tied at 16, the Huskies were able to go on a 9-5 run thanks to Rivera recording eight of her assists in the second set. The third set was dominated by the Huskies as they scored 10 of the first 13 points. Senior Hayley Cmajdalka had a set-high four kills.
The volleyball team took on Tulane Sunday afternoon, with the game ending in their second conference victory of the season. UConn won the first set and after Tulane tied in 1-1 in the second, went on to win the third and fourth sets to win overall. Senior Camille Evans had 16 kills for a career high to help lead the Huskies over Tulane and recorded a .517 hitting percentage.
The Huskies scored 10 out of the first 14 points to start the third set, and then ran off with the set to win it 25-14. The fourth set was closely contested, coming down to 20-20, but the Huskies pulled away at the end and were able to pull out the game. Junior Kenya Cason had seven kills in the fourth set and scored the match-winner to settle the fourth set at 25-23 for the victory.
Senior Rebecca Rivera had 31 assists to lead the team, and sophomore Kennedy Arundel provided three service aces in the game.
UConn is 3-0 to start their American Athletic Conference play this season. The Huskies will be playing their fourth game in the ACC play on Wednesday at 5 p.m. as they host Temple in Storrs.
Matt Fontaine is a campus correspondent for The Daily Campus, covering lacrosse. He can be reached via email at matthew.fontaine@uconn.edu.