HOUSTON (SMU) – It took nearly three hours, but the SMU volleyball team defeated Houston in five sets (30-28, 23-25, 24-26, 25-23, 15-9) Friday night. Brittany Adams led the offense with a career-high 23 kills, including the set winner in the fourth set. She also matched her career high with 21 digs.

The Mustangs scored five straight points in the fifth set, taking a 6-4 lead, that they didn't relinquish. The Cougars called timeout and scored a kill, but then SMU scored two more kills and an ace, taking a 9-5 lead. The Mustangs stretched the lead to seven, 13-6, before ending the match with a 15-9 win.

Montana Watts recorded a career-high 38 digs, tied for third all-time in a match at SMU. Lauren Mills also posted a career high with 24 digs and scored 10 kills for her 15th double-double of the season. Kendall Patterson finished with 54 assists and 13 digs for her 12th double-double of the season. Kelly Brunstein and Katie Hegarty each added nine kills.

SMU (17-7, 11-2 American Athletic Conference) had 112 digs as a team, tied for seventh all-time. Houston (9-12, 5-8 The American) had 71 kills, while the Mustangs scored 59, but tallied 11 blocks and took advantage of 10 service errors and seven setting errors to take the win.

The Mustangs won the fourth set, 25-23, when Adams blasted her eighth kill of the set on set point. The junior was blocked on the previous point, but Patterson went right back to the hot hand and Adams delivered. The Mustangs matched the Cougars with 17 kills, but hit .295 to Houston's .208 attack percentage in the win.

The Cougars scored four of the last five points to win the third set, 26-24, taking a 2-1 lead in the match. SMU led 22-21 and 23-22, but could not maintain the advantage, despite three setting errors and four service errors in the set by the Cougars. It was a service ace for Houston that gave the Cougars a 24-23 lead, their first lead since the score was Houston 17, SMU 16.

The Mustangs came back to win a thrilling first set, 30-28. After Mills scored to keep Houston from winning the set, tying the score at 27-27, the Mustangs got a block by Kennedy and Adams to take a 28-27 lead. The Cougars tied the score for 16th time, but Adams fifth kill of the set kept SMU in front. A Cougar attack on the next point gave SMU the first-set win, 30-28. Watts had 14 digs, and Adams tallied 12, as SMU posted 39 in the first set to keep Houston at a .029 attack percentage.

Houston held on to win the second set with a 25-23 victory to tie the match at 1-1. Trailing by five, 22-17, SMU scored four straight points, including an ace by Kennedy, to cut the lead to one, 22-21. Houston came out of its called timeout with back-to-back blocks for a three-point lead. Adams scored two more kills before the Cougars scored their 25th point for the two-point win.

SMU plays at Tulane Sunday at 1 p.m. before returning home for five of the last six regular-season matches.