MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – The Southeastern Louisiana University volleyball team, now holding its first conference championship in program history, is ready to take the court for the first time in the NCAA National Championship Tournament, which the Lady Lions will do on Friday night in a match against #8 national seed Minnesota.
 
"We're excited to get a chance to play on the big stage," said SLU head volleyball coach Jeremy White. "Getting out of our comfort zone and going someplace we haven't been yet is exciting as well. We're pumped for the experience and ready to play in front of a Big 10-type crowd. Hopefully, it will lead to some success for us."
 
The Lady Lions know the task they face in Friday's match is a tall one, both literally and figuratively, but feel there are ways to get points on the board.
 
"Minnesota is a big, physical team," continued White. "They play a very structured style of volleyball. That canlead to some gaps we can attack if we are efficient in our passing. It will allow us to run tempt and attack gaps in their blocks. They will be tough. We will have to take them out of their system with our serving game if we want to have a shot at slowing them down offensively. If we do that, though, we will have an opportunity to compete in this match and set us up for success."
 
When Southeastern is on the serve, it'll be up to Kailin Newsome (33 aces), Hannah Brewer (25 aces), and Ariana Hebert (21 aces) to keep the Golden Gophers from getting into an early offensive rhythm. When the ball comes back over the net, if Brewer (107 blocks), Crispin Adams (69 blocks), Alexis Logarbo (49 blocks), or Karlee Wilkerson (42 blocks) haven't blocked it back over, it'll be in the capable hands of Newsome (2.95 digs/set), Ansley Tullis (3.93 digs per set), and Cicily Hidalgo (2.94 digs per set) to keep the ball up and get it to setters Hebert (6.02 assists per set) or Gracie Duplechein (6.44 assists per set) in position. On the attack, it'll mostly be the All-Conference tandem of Newsome (4.17 kills per set) and Cicily Hidalgo (3.31 kills per set) trying to find those gaps in the Golden Gopher block and holes in the defense for kills.
 
Minnesota, the #8 seed overall in the NCAA Tournament and #2 seed in the Austin Quadrant of the bracket, will be looking to feed the ball to their top hitter, Taylor Landfair (4.43 kills per set). The Golden Gophers will look to use their size to their advantage as they have five players with more than 50 total blocks on the season. That size has kept Minnesota opponents to under a .200 attack percentage on the season, currently sitting at .181, while the Golden Gophers hit for .260.
 
First serve of Friday's NCAA Tournament first round match between the Lady Lions (25-7) and #8 Golden Gophers (20-8) is set for 7:00 P.M. at the Maturi Pavilion on the University of Minnesota campus and it will be streamed on ESPN+. The winner of Friday's match advances to Saturday night's second round match against the winner of Friday's earlier match, Northern Iowa vs. #7 Florida State.
 
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.