Volleyball Stays Alive for Conference USA Tournament With Come-From-Behind Win Over Sam Houston

Friday, November 14

6 PM

University of Delaware

8-16,5-10CUSA

Sam Houston

10-18,2-13CUSA

Sam Houston

Delaware

Photo by: Michael Riccio

Volleyball Stays Alive for Conference USA Tournament With Come-From-Behind Win Over Sam Houston

11/14/2025 9:11:00 PM | Volleyball

Box Score

NEWARK, Del. - University of Delaware volleyball defeated Sam Houston in five sets (25-16, 16-25, 22-25, 26-24, 15-13) to stay alive for a Conference USA Tournament berth. The Blue Hens remained in contention by virtue of the win coupled with Missouri State's three-set loss to Middle Tennessee.

HEN HIGHLIGHTS

Cadence Nguyen posted a career-best 33 digs and added eight assists.
Anna Logan Gillens tallied a team-best 16 kills, hit .293, and recorded five blocks.
Dylan Norris hit .407 with 14 kills and five blocks.
Raina Hughes registered 13 kills, hit .281, and added four blocks.
Aubrey Lyssy and Kennedi Inman combined for 50 assists. Lyssy had a career-high 33 assists to go with eight digs and two aces six while Inman added 17 assists, four digs and two aces.
Kristyn Membreno had a career-high 14 digs.
Asia Murray finished with five kills and seven blocks.
Sila Ozyurek also tallied seven blocks.
Jayda Redd chipped in eight kills and nine digs.
Thalia Yancey had 10 digs.

HOW IT HAPPENED
FIRST SET

Delaware used an early 5-0 run to take a 6-3 lead and never trailed. Another 4-0 run pushed UD ahead 10-4.
Yancey made it 16-7 with a kill for Delaware's largest lead of the set, and a kill by Norris, a block by Ozyurek and Hughes, and a Hughes kill sealed the opening frame.
UD hit .464 in the set, tied for its fourth-most efficient scoring set of the season. Hughes and Yancey each had four kills, with Yancey adding six digs.

SECOND SET

UD battled from behind to tie the set at 11, but Sam Houston never trailed.
Nguyen contributed eight assists in a set.

THIRD SET

After both teams opened with early 3-0 runs, Delaware led 7-5 following a kill from Norris. Sam Houston answered to take a 12-9 lead and later pushed it to 17-12.
A 6-0 UD run, featuring kills from Redd, Hughes, and Norris, plus a Bearkat error, gave the Blue Hens a 20-19 advantage, but SHSU closed with five of the final six points to take a 2-1 lead.
Norris had five kills in the set, while Lyssy dished out 10 assists. Nguyen and Membreno each added six digs.

FOURTH SET

Set four featured a whopping 16 ties and eight lead changes.
Sam Houston built leads of 16-13 and 19-16, but kills from Redd and Ozyurek and a block by Hughes and Ozyurek helped UD tie it at 19 and eventually move ahead 22-21. UD faced match point at 24-23 but scored the final three points to take the set 26-24 and force a fifth.
Nguyen recorded nine digs in the set, the most by a Delaware player in a single set this season. Redd and Gillens each had four kills.

FIFTH SET

Delaware struck first and led 3-0, later taking 7-5 and 8-6 leads behind kills from Norris.
SHSU responded with three straight points to take its first lead at 9-8. The Blue Hens answered with a pair of 3-0 runs to go up 14-10, and Gillens closed the match with a kill to secure a must-win victory.
Gillens had four kills in the final set. Nguyen recorded six digs and Lyssy added five.

HEN HIGHLIGHTS

Nguyen's 33 digs were the most by a Delaware player since Andie Hanus had 33 against Elon on Oct. 7, 2018. The 33 digs were the second most by a CUSA player in any match this year, only behind 34 from Missouri State's Brooke Eslinger on Nov. 7.
Gillens recorded her seventh match this season with at least 15 kills.
Norris had her third match this season with double-digit kills and a hitting percentage of .400 or better, also done on Aug. 30 vs. UMBC and Sept. 20 vs. Saint Peter's).
Hughes tallied her third match this season with double-digit kills.
Murray posted her 15th match with at least five blocks.
Yancey notched her fourth match with at least 10 digs.
Membreno shattered her career-high in digs with 14. Her previous high was eight against Western Kentucky on Nov. 7.
Lyssy's 33 assists marked a career high and were the most by a Delaware freshman since Lily Rogers had 59 on Feb. 26, 2021.
Delaware is now 3-2 in five-set matches this season.

UP NEXT
Delaware celebrates Senior Day tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. against Sam Houston. UD needs a win and a Missouri State loss to Middle Tennessee to clinch a spot in next week's CUSA Tournament.

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