Box Score

Box Score

HAMMOND – Southeastern Louisiana senior Allison Jones had a team-high nine kills, but the Lady Lions could not overcome a hot-hitting UTSA team, falling 25-20, 25-16, 26-28, 25-15 in Southland Conference volleyball action Friday night in the University Center.

Southeastern rallied for a third set victory to avoid the sweep, but could not even the match, dropping to 10-14 overall and 1-6 in Southland play. UTSA (12-9, 6-1 Southland) remained atop the Southland Conference West Division behind a .240 hitting percentage.

Jones' tally led a balanced Southeastern attack, as freshman Cherish Krohn added eight kills while junior Paige Dollison and sophomore Courtney Donald contributed seven winners apiece. Junior Arianne Cruckshank handled the setting duties and finished with 34 assists. Cruckshank and Krohn also had three service aces apiece.

Cruckshank finished with a double-double, leading the Lady Lions with 10 digs. Donald led the Lady Lions with a solo block and five block assists. Cruckshank had two block assists, while Krohn, Jones and Dollison had one block assist each.

UTSA was led by Brittney Malloy and Whitney Walls, who both recorded 11 kills. Kendra Rowland added nine kills, while Briana Mason finished with eight. Kelsey Schwirtlich led the Roadrunners with 39 assists.

Defensively, Kelsey Jewasko paced UTSA with 18 digs, while Rowland added 10. Mason and Schwirtlich each had one solo block and four block assists.

Neither team could get into the flow offensively in the opening set with UTSA posting a .139 hitting percentage to Southeastern's .081. The Roadrunners held on for a 25-20 opening set victory.

Southeastern hit an impressive .231 in the second set behind three kills from Krohn. However, UTSA took a 2-0 set lead into the break after hitting .500. Walls had four kills to push UTSA to a 25-16 set win.

The Lady Lions would not quit, however, and avoided the sweep with an inspired third set. UTSA had match point at 24-21, but Southeastern refused to give up. Donald had two kills, followed by a Cruckshank winner to knot the score at 24-24. The set would reach a tie two more times, before a UTSA attack error coupled with a Cruckshank ace gave Southeastern a 28-26 set win.

UTSA jumped on top in the fourth set, 5-0, but the Lady Lions again battled back. A kill by freshman Rhiannon Cheeks put the Lady Lions ahead, 12-11. However, it was all UTSA from that point forward. The Roadrunners scored the next five points and closed out the set and match with a 14-3 run.

Southeastern will be back in action on Saturday, hosting A&M-Corpus Christi at 2 p.m. in the University Center.