BEAUMONT, Texas – Lamar's Bethany Johnson pounded a match-high 21 kills and senior Katy Fielder set a career-high with 29 digs as the Lady Cardinals earned their first Southland Conference win of the season with a thrilling 30-24, 21-30, 30-22, 19-30, 15-8 victory over Southeastern on Tuesday night at the Montagne Center.

Lamar (7-8, 1-4 SLC), which went 26-7 last season, snapped a five-match losing skid and improved to 13-0 all-time against Southeastern (7-8, 1-5 SLC), which was looking to snap its second 12-match losing streak to an opponent in three days. The Lady Lions had earlier snapped a 12-match losing skid to Stephen F. Austin on Saturday for the first win in Nacogdoches since the mid-1980's.

Luciana Neves led Southeastern with 12 kills and Keri Hamblin added 11 kills and 13 digs.

Sarah Gascon, ranked second in the nation in digs, posted a match-high 33 digs for the Lady Lions as she moved past former Lady Lion Darci Starr into second place for career digs with 1,639. She is now 88 digs shy of surpassing former Lady Lion Denise Kubena, who recorded 1,726 digs from 1999-2002.

Lamar racked up a .353 hitting percentage behind a flawless, seven-kill performance by Jessica Johnson in game one, while out-digging SLU 15-9. Bethany Johnson added five kills as the Lady Cards jumped out to an early 1-0 lead.

Southeastern capitalized on 16 attack errors by Lamar on the way to a 30-21 win in game two. Gascon led a strong defensive effort with nine digs in the frame.

Following an offensive resurgence by LU in game three which resulted in a 30-22 victory, Southeastern once again stifled the Lady Cards with a strong defensive effort in game four, equalizing the match at two games apiece.

Lamar wasted little time grabbing control of the match in the fifth game, jumping out to a quick 7-0 lead from which the Lady Lions were unable to recover. Nikki Perry had five of her 10 kills in the frame to lead Lamar to an error-free game and a .500 hitting percentage.

The Lady Lions outhit Lamar, .160-.137, despite hitting into 13 team blocks, led by Buchi Okoh and Chelsee Hurley with six each. Lamar also served seven aces in the match with Bethany Johnson, who added five blocks, tallying three to lead the Lady Cardinals.

Ashley Halligan posted 58 assists to lead the Lady Cardinals while Southeastern's Katie Griffin came off the bench to lead the Lady Lions with 30.

Southeastern returns home on Saturday when it plays host to Southland Conference foe Sam Houston State in a 4 p.m. match at the University Center.