Lady Tigers head to Cabool as they chase fifth straight 20-win season

A hot stretch has the Houston volleyball team on the cusp of the program’s fifth consecutive 20-win season.

Coming off a comfortable 25-14, 25-7, 25-3 victory Monday night at Dixon, HHS concludes the regular season with a road match Tuesday at Cabool followed by the regular-season finale at home Thursday against Ava for Senior Night. District play begins next Tuesday.

The Lady Tigers (18-7-3) have won 10 of their last 15 matches with three of those ties as part of a third-place finish Saturday in the Pleasant Hope Play For Pink Volleyball Tournament. The team went 2-1-3 overall.

It’s been a frenzy of a finish for HHS with 15 of its 28 matches in the last 13 days. Two of those were tournaments.

By contrast, Cabool (22-7-3) has played one match over that stretch: a 3-1 victory Oct. 7 against Salem. The bulk of the Lady Bulldogs’ games came in three September tournaments – totaling 18 combined matches. 

Houston and Cabool faced each other in a preseason jamboree Aug. 26 with the Lady Bulldogs winning two of the three sets. Cabool is 13-0 at home. Houston is 6-2 in road matches.

HHS GOES 2-1-3 FOR THIRD-PLACE FINISH

On Saturday, HHS split its three pool play matches against Spokane (25-19, 22-25), Stockton (25-17, 23-25) and Lockwood (20-25, 25-20). As the fifth seed for the tournament, the Lady Tigers beat Jasper (25-11, 25-18), lost to Lockwood (23-25, 16-25) and defeated Spokane (27-25, 24-26, 25-22) in the third-place match.

Wagner led HHS against Spokane with 14 kills. Benoist had 15 assists, McNiell had 21 digs and Weaver contributed four blocks.

“I thought we really showed our grit in our third-place finish,” HHS coach Julia Sloan said. “The girls were tired and kept battling after 12-plus hours of volleyball.”

Houston’s pool produced the second, third and fourth place finishers in the tournament. The lone exception was Russellville, who beat Lockwood in the championship match.

“I thought it was a great day,” Sloan said. “I felt like our pool was pretty stacked, but sometimes that’s how it goes.”

Last week, HHS beat Lesterville at home 25-11, 25-10, 25-10 before road victories at Gainesville (27-25, 25-17, 19-25, 25-20) and Laquey (25-20, 25-15, 25-11). Senior Kayla Wagner had 22 kills against Lesterville. Gracyn McNiell had 23 digs at Gainesville and Claire Benoist handed out 23 assists. Benoist and Kynlee Weaver had four aces apiece. 

THREE MATCHES TO GO FOR 20

Houston needs to win two of its three scheduled remaining matches for 20 wins – a streak that began under Loran Richardson in 2021 and was picked up in 2023 when Sloan took over the program.

Following regular-season matchups with Cabool and Ava, the Lady Tigers play Mountain Grove next Tuesday in the first round of the Class 3 District 11 Tournament. Here’s a preview and matchups for the tournament. 

The 2025 Lady Tigers’ 31 matches – including one district match – are the fewest of the past five seasons and program’s streak. Last year’s team went 21-12-3 in 36 matches. Here’s a look at those years: