BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Southeastern Louisiana dropped a pair of three-set matches Friday on the opening day of the 2017 season in the Courtyard by Marriott Invitational. The Lady Lions fell 25-9, 26-24, 25-21, to host Samford and 25-13, 25-17, 25-21, to Murray State at the Pete Hanna Center.
Struggling offensively in the initial sets of each match, Southeastern (0-2) worked out of the doldrums but failed to take a set from either Samford (1-0) or Murray State (1-1).
NOTES
- Chloee Holden (eight kills), a sophomore from Alvin, Texas, and Savannah Alcazar (six kills), a sophomore from League City, Texas, led the Lady Lions' offensive attack against Samford. Haley Baker, a junior from Elkton, Maryland, handed out a team-high 15 assists. Tempestt Vaughn, a freshman from Beaumont, Texas, threw up a team-leading three blocks. Macey Stock, a junior from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, led Southeastern with 10 digs.
- After Samford hit .591 in the opening set, the Southeastern defense locked down to hold the Bulldogs to a .125 attack percentage in the second set. Samford bounced back to hit .194 in the final set. The Lady Lions did not hit higher than .086 in any set.
- Forcing the Bulldogs deep into the second set, Southeastern led as late as, 23-22, and tied up the set at 24-all before Samford scored the final two points to claim the set.
- Despite falling behind by as much as 10 points in the final set against Samford, the Lady Lions were able to claw back within a pair late, 23-21, before the Bulldogs again scored the final two points to seal the win.
- Murray State proved to be a tougher matchup for the Lady Lion defense, recording attack percentages of .520, .200 and .222 in the match.
- Jodi Edo (seven kills), a sophomore from Baton Rouge, led Southeastern's offense against the Racers. Edo also threw up a pair of blocks, as did Elyssa Purcell, a sophomore from Alvin, and Sam Gomez, a freshman from Mandeville, Louisiana. Baker again handed out a team-leading 13 assists. Lexie Torres, a junior from San Antonio, Texas, recorded a team-high 13 digs.
- The Lady Lions built an early 5-3 lead in the second set against Murray State, but the Racers shifted the lead and the momentum with a 7-0 run. Three separate 4-0 runs wiped out Southeastern's 11-9 lead in the final set.
UP NEXT
The Lady Lions wrap up their weekend action Saturday at 1 p.m. against Ohio on the final day of action from the Courtyard by Marriott Invitational. Live stats are available courtesy tournament host Samford. A link for stats can be found on the volleyball schedule page at www.LionSports.net.
Ohio was picked to finish second in the East Division in the Mid-American Conference preseason poll after compiling a 16-14 (11-5 MAC) record in 2016. The Bobcats are led by preseason all-conference selections Jamie Kosiorek (3.21 kills per set, 31 service aces), a senior outside hitter, and Ali Lake (2.69 kills per set, 0.46 blocks per set), a senior middle blocker.
For more on Southeastern volleyball, visit LionSports.net and follow both @sluathletics and @southeastern_vb on Twitter.
LINE SCORES
Samford def. Southeastern La. 25-9, 26-24, 25-21
Southeastern La. (0-1) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Holden, Chloee 8-0-1; Alcazar, Savannah 6-0-1; Vaughn, Tempestt 3-0-3; Capps, Alli 3-0-1; Edo, Jodi 2-0-0; Baker, Haley 1-1-1; Purcell, Elyssa 1-0-1; Stock, Macey 1-0-0; Pratt, Alexis 0-1-0; Gomez, Sam 0-1-0;
Totals 25-3-4.0. (Assists) - Baker, Haley 15.
(Dig leaders) - Stock, Macey 10; Torres, Lexie 9
Samford (1-0) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Kelsi Hobbs 13-1-2; Krista Boesing 12-1-0; Kendal Strand 7-0-1; Shayla Phillip 6-0-1; Sierra Rayzor 2-0-5; Alana Schouten 0-1-0; Taylor Anderton 0-0-1; Grace Tiesman 0-4-0;
Totals 40-7-6.0. (Assists) - Taylor Anderton 38.
(Dig leaders) - Grace Tiesman 10; Krista Boesing 9
Site: Birmingham, Ala. (Pete Hanna Center)
Date: Aug 25, 2017
Attend: 211
Time: 1:21
Referees: James Kirkpatrick, Joe Aguilar
Line judges: Tom Rowold, Brandon Rivera
Murray State def. Southeastern La. 25-13, 25-17, 25-21
Southeastern La. (0-2) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Edo, Jodi 7-0-2; Alcazar, Savannah 5-0-1; Capps, Alli 5-0-1; Purcell, Elyssa 3-0-2; Holden, Chloee 3-0-0; Baker, Haley 0-2-0; Gomez, Sam 0-0-2; Stock, Macey 0-1-0;
Totals 23-3-4.0. (Assists) - Baker, Haley 13.
(Dig leaders) - Torres, Lexie 13; Pratt, Alexis 5
Murray State (1-1) (Kills-aces-blocks) - Holthaus, Rachel 13-1-0; Giustino, Rachel 12-1-0; Brown, Dacia 7-0-0; Lindsay, Megan 6-2-1; Radle, Courtney 3-1-1; Chatman, Olivia 2-0-1;
Totals 43-5-2.0. (Assists) - Radle, Courtney 38.
(Dig leaders) - Kaufmann, Alex 10; Fernandez, Becca 10; Giustino, Rachel 10
Site: Birmingham, Ala. (Pete Hanna Center)
Date: Aug 25, 2017
Attend: 101
Time: 1:07
Referees: Mark Prater, James Kirkpatrick
Line judges: Tom Rowold, Brandon Rivera
