The Mustangs volleyball team got a taste of Houston this weekend as they faced off against the Cougars and the Rice Owls.

SMU fired on all cylinders against Rice on Friday night, and needed all five games to dispose of the Owls. Rice looked dominant in the first and third games, but managed to win only those two games.

The Mustangs scored just 20 points in the first game and 21 in the third game, but played to potential in the other three games.

The Mustangs had big games from Kathryn Wilkerson, Caitlin Rainbird and Stefanie Kons. Each of the three picked up a double double in the match. Adrienne Zielasko also helped the offense with nine kills, and Candice Davis tallied 30 digs against Rice.

The Mustangs did just enough in the second, fourth and fifth games to get the win, getting stronger in each game, winning by two, then three, and finally taking the match with a five-point win in the abbreviated fifth game.

The game against Houston was a different story.

The Mustangs couldn’t get anything going and dropped Sunday afternoon’s match 3-0 to the Cougars.

Once again, the Mustangs got stronger as the games went on but were never able to take one away from Houston, falling 22-30, 23-30 and 26-30.

Natalie Peters, Caitlin Rainbird and Kathryn Wilkerson led the SMU offense with 10, nine and nine kills respectively. Rainbird fell just one kill short of a double double to go along with 13 digs in the match.

The Mustangs fell to 2-4 in Conference USA games and to 12-8 overall on the season after splitting the weekend games. SMU played the games without Kendra Kahanek and Rachel Giubilato.

Giubilato continues to be out with a leg injury, and Kahanek missed these two games and is expected to return to the roster soon.

SMU will hit the road this weekend with games in Hattiesburg, Miss., to face Southern Miss on Friday night, and to Orlando, Fla., to take on Central Florida Sunday afternoon.