HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team completed a perfect regular season on its home floor and secured the two-seed in next week's Southland Conference Championship Tournament by sweeping Incarnate Word 3-0 (25-23, 25-15, 25-21) on senior day Saturday afternoon at the University Center.
Southeastern couldn't have asked for a better start to the match as a
Jolie Hidalgo kill started a 4-point run to give the Lady Lions a 4-0 lead as a kill by
Crispin Adams made it 4-0 SLU. However, the Cardinals responded with a five-point rally of their own to take their first lead of the set at 6-5.
The set would go back-and-forth until UIW took a 22-20 lead, but a kill by
Karlee Wilkerson started a 5-1 Lady Lions run to end the set in SLU's favor as
Crispin Adams ended the set with a kill on set point.
UIW started fast in the second set, scoring the first four points before a kill by
Kailin Newsome got the Lady Lions on the board. That kill started a 6-2 Southeastern run to tie the score, capped by a Wilkerson kill which made it 6-6. After the Cardinals retook the lead at 7-6 and then again at 8-7, SLU rattled off eight straight points, sandwiched by a pair of UIW attack errors, to bust the set score open at 15-8 Lady Lions. The Cardinals would only get as close as five points for the remainder of the set and an
Addie Vidrine kill on set point put Southeastern up 2-0 in the match.
SLU looked to bust the third set open as a six-point Lady Lions run gave Southeastern a 10-6 lead following another Adams kill. However, UIW would cut the lead down to just one point several times during the set, the final time at 15-14 before another Newsome kill started a three-point rally by the Lady Lions as a kill by
Addie Vidrine and an ace by Newsome put SLU up 18-14. Southeastern killed all UIW attempts to rally back into the match, and on her second senior day after deciding to come back to play her extra year of eligibility,
Karlee Wilkerson secured a senior day win for the Lady Lions with a kill and a perfect 12-0 record at home during the regular season.
Ansley Tullis, playing through the heartbreak following the news of the loss of a family member Friday evening, finished the match with seven digs, a service ace, and three assists.
"I can't express how proud I am of this group of young women," said SLU head volleyball coach
Jeremy White. "We refer to the culture of our team as being family-like from athletes and coaches to the family and friends who support us. In light of some tragic news, these ladies played inspired volleyball and honored the loss of one of our family members today. This season has been one of the best in Southeastern history. We've had a great run at home but now we have a while new season with a different meaning starting next week with the Southland Conference Tournament and postseason play."
Newsome continues to average more than four kills per set on the season, notching her 14
th double-double of 2022 with 14 kills and 10 digs while adding a service ace. On her senior day, Vidrine picked up her second double-double of the season with 10 kills and 11 digs as well as a service ace and two assisted blocks. Adams also had a solid senior day as she finished with 13 kills on a .550 attack percentage with three block assists.
Ariana Hebert tallied 27 assists, nine digs, and four service aces on her senior day.
Gracie Duplechein added 17 assists and a pair of digs.
The Lady Lions (23-7, 13-5 SLC) look to parley their 12-0 record at home in the University Center during the regular season into a conference tournament championship on their home floor. Southeastern enters the 2022 Southland Conference Championship as the two-seed and receives a bye all the way to Saturday's semifinals. Opening serve of SLU's semifinal match is set for 3:00 P.M. inside the University Center against an opponent to be determined by Friday's results.
DIGGIN' IT CLUB / S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the Southeastern volleyball program are encouraged to join the Diggin' It Club. Lion volleyball alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letter winners.
All membership fees and donations to both the Diggin' It Club and S Club (volleyball) are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern volleyball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at
laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting
www.LionUp.com.
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Lady Lions Volleyball, follow @LionUpVB or @JWhiteSLU on Twitter, @LionUpVB on Instagram, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.
