Box Score HAMMOND – True freshman
Kaprice Glover pounded out a season-high 10 kills and Southeastern turned in one of its top hitting performances in school history in defeating Alcorn State, 25-15, 25-9, 25-5, in the Lady Lions' home opener Tuesday at the University Center.
Glover, who hit .562 for the match in 16 attempts, helped paced a Southeastern team that hit .514 for the match (43-5-74) including a blistering 16-for-20 (80 percent) in the final set. Alcorn State, which was opening its season under first-year coach Kevin Montgomery, fell to 0-1.
“We came in wanting to focus on our passing and we did that,” head coach Julie Langford said. “Coming out of our tournament last week (in Houston), we wanted to work on blocking, blocking assignments and tracking the hitters and we did that well. We wanted to concentrate more on our serving and we're going to get back at that in practice.”
Lauren Mayer, who led the Lady Lions at the net with a .583 hitting percentage in 12 attempts, added eight kills while
Julie Elliott (5-0-10) and freshman
Taylor Buckner (5-1-7) added five each.
Katie Collins dished out 21 assists for Southeastern while
Alex Greer paced the Lady Lions with six digs.
The Lady Lions opened the match as they hit .360 at the net and took the first set, using a 10-1 run to pull away from a 2-2 deadlock. Glover added three kills in the spurt while Mayer, Collins and
Kalynn Evans each added kills and Collins added one of Southeastern's 10 service aces for the match.
Southeastern increased its production at the net in the second set, hitting .448 (14-1-29) and closing out with a 10-0 run. Alcorn State got as close at 7-5 in the second set on a kill by Clarissa Webb, but
Paige Dollison and Buckner combined on the next three points for the Lady Lions to increase their lead to 10-5.
Collins and
Margaret Pittman fueled Southeastern's historic run in the third set as the senior duo combined for 13 points to help the Lady Lions put the match away. Glover began a rally with two straight kills that helped increase a 6-3 Southeastern lead to a 12-4 cushion before true freshman
Alexis Braghini tallied consecutive kills to highlight an 8-0 run.
Southeastern will return to action on Friday when it opens play at the Radisson/New Orleans Airport Privateer Invitational Tournament. The Lady Lions will battle Big 12 foe Texas Tech at 4 p.m. on Friday before facing host UNO on Saturday at 11 a.m. and Bowling Green at 4 p.m.
Southeastern La. def. Alcorn State, 3-0 (25-15, 25-9, 25-5)
Alcorn State (0-1) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Watts 4-0-0; Roberson 2-0-1; Johnson 2-0-0; Webb 2-0-0; Kerl 0-0-1; Nash 0-1-0; Totals 10-1-1.0. (Assists) – Prince 8. (Dig leaders) – Kelly 10; Watts 5.
Southeastern La. (1-3) (Kills-aces-blocks) – Glover 10-0-1; Mayer 8-0-0; Buckner 5-3-1; Elliott 5-0-2; Donald 4-0-0; Braghini 2-1-0; Dollison 2-0-1; Evans 2-1-0; Srajer 2-0-1; Collins 1-1-0; Jones 1-0-0; Greer 1-3-0; Pittman 0-1-0; Totals 43-10-3.0. (Assists) – Collins 21. (Dig leaders) – Greer 6; Buckner 3.
NOTES -
Southeastern's best single-match hitting performance came when the Lady Lions hit .548 as a team against Mississippi Valley State on Oct. 12, 1989 ... Alcorn State's Donna Kelly led all players with 10 digs ... the Lady Braves hit -.140 at the net (10-17-50), including -278 (3-8-18) in the second set.
