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STARKVILLE, Miss. – Kennesaw State volleyball played Houston tight in the first two sets before eventually falling by a 3-0 score (25-20, 25-19, 25-12) to the Cougars on the third day of the Maroon and White Invite. The Owls' record moved to 6-3 for the season after the loss, while Houston improved to 8-1 after a 3-0 weekend which included a win over the host Mississippi State Bulldogs on Friday.

STAT OF THE GAME: Kennesaw State finished under .200 for hitting percentage at .151 (30K-17E-86TA) while the Cougars posted a .373 (41K-10E-83TA). KSU was also hurt from the service line, notching just two aces against nine errors. Houston meanwhile had nine errors also but countered that with nine aces.

SET ONE: The teams battled back and forth at the start, and the Owls took a 7-6 edge off a Houston service error. It was a 10-10 tie when the Cougars reeled off seven of the next nine points for a 17-12 advantage. The Owls managed to close within 19-16 off a kill from McKinley Ferguson, before UH closed out the set.

SET TWO: Again, the set was close through the opening third, with a Dani Ballou kill tying the set at 8-8. A 3-0 run gave momentum to Houston though, and with the score 20-17, the Cougars scored the next three, including two off aces, to claim the six-point win.

SET THREE: Houston opened up a 14-4 advantage and the Owls were never able to seriously threaten in the set.

QUOTEABLE: "Our team continues to learn we are capable of playing long stretches of really high-level volleyball, which is exciting. But we're also learning that we need to get better at enjoying battling in tight matches. I'm not talking competing, we compete hard. I'm talking enjoying the back and forth of the battle of a match. Today our demeanor, confidence and aggressiveness changed when we got down by a few points and we need to fix that. So many of these games are going to feel like the first two sets today and we'll need to respond differently moving forward." – KSU head coach Keith Schunzel 

NOTES: 
-This was the first-ever meeting between the two volleyball programs.
-Ballou led the Owls with eight kills, while Jasmine Brown's .545 hitting percentage (7K-1E-11TA) paced KSU. Ferguson finished with 25 assists, and had a team-high three blocks as well.

NEXT TIME OUT: The Owls will play a mid-week game against the UAB Blazers on Wednesday, Sept. 14 at 7 pm in the Convocation Center.